Sultan Of Swing makes a winning NZ return for Shaune Ricthie
“A nice mile race with a light weight in the autumn might be his go, he wouldn’t want too many on the hard tracks as he feels his feet a bit,” the Cambridge conditioner said.
Ritchie produced the half-brother to the dual Australian Group 1 winner Suavito for a tidy first-up win at Ellerslie on Friday with the victory under 60kg in the Stella Artois Handicap (1200m) catching him pleasantly off guard.
“He does sprint well fresh, but I thought he might find a couple of the others a bit quick with his topweight and happily he’s proved me wrong,” he said.
Ritchie won three races with Sultan Of Swing before the son of Bachelor Duke transferred to his brother Craig’s Warwick Farm stable and returned a checque in all three Sydney appearances.
“It’s nice to have him back and he’s pretty tractable, you can ride him cold or up closer to the pace,” he said.
Owned by breeder Dominic Li under his IDL Racing banner, Sultan Of Swing jumped well and travelled comfortably behind the leader.
“When Opie has them in the trail you feel pretty good and he pulled him out at the right time,” Ritchie said.
Bosson came across heels in the straight to hit the front 250m from home and Sultan Of Swing went to the line strongly to account for Irish Call and Mr Knowitall