Fortuna Weekly Round Up 3rd October
Fortuna’s CHANCE TO DANCE primed and ready for the $250,000 Group One Livamol Classic at Hastings Saturday 7th.
A mouth watering clash lies ahead as the two Te Akau trained stable mates, CHANCE TO DANCE and GINGERNUTS square off in the feature race at Hastings on Saturday. Both last start winners, GINGERNUTS winning the Group One Windsor Park Plate over 1600 metres at Hastings on the 23rd Sept and CHANCE TO DANCE winning over the same distance in the Listed Haunui Farms Karaka Classic the next day.
On paper the 4yo GINGERNUTS has the edge sporting Three Group One victories and over $1.2 million in prize money. He also gets 1.5kgs in weight advantage from his rival. The 8yo imported Irish Bred Gelding, CHANCE TO DANCE, will be no pushover however, being the winner of nine races in three countries (Ireland, Australia and NZ) and the winner of close to NZ$500k prize money. From 29 race day starts he has only finished out of the prizemoney four times. The current betting market has GINGERNUTS, to be ridden by Opie Bosson, a very firm favourite at $2 on Fixed Odds, while CHANCE TO DANCE, ridden by Leith Innes, is 2nd favourite at $6. To add to the spice, both horses are raced by large syndicates, 45 or so in the GINGERNUTS Syndicate and 78 in the CHANCE TO DANCE syndicate. Watch out for the noise if these two finish up in a two horse war in the run home!!!
Here is the trackwork summary from Tuesday morning
Gingernuts and Chance To Dance confirmed their readiness for Saturday’s Livamol Classic when paired in impressive work at Matamata this morning.
Galloping 18 metres out on a heavy course proper, Gingernuts (Bosson) and Chance To Dance (Pinn) set off at a steady rate and built momentum from the 1200m to run that distance in 1:22.8. Their last 1000m took 1:07.5 and they hit the line together full of running with a final 600m in 39.4.
Co-trainer Stephen Autridge was well satisfied with the stablemates’ final serious hitout ahead of the Hastings Group One. “That was decent work, just right,” he said. “They’re both ready for big runs.
Of course, it it not just a two horse race, with quality proven horses such as Volkstock ‘n’barrell, Authentic Paddy, Sofia Rosa, Mime and Close Up in the mix.
Fortuna Director, John Galvin, takes the NZTR handicapping rules as they are currently framed to task and is featured in a full page article in last week’s Informant.
“The current rules were framed with the best of intentions,” says John, “but there have been unintended consequences. If the Fortuna horse, CHANCE TO DANCE, had run 2nd in the Karaka Classic by a nose, then he, an eight win horse with earnings of over $450,000 and on a Handicap Rating of 101, would be one spot behind ALL IN VOGUE, a four win horse with earnings of $77,000 and a Handicap Rating of just 77, in the Group One Livamol Classic on Saturday and sweating on a start as a result. He did win the Karaka Classic of course and so therefore leapfrogged over a number of other horses with lower Handicap ratings, but that doesn’t make the situation right.” John has called for an urgent review of the rules by the NZTR Handicapping Committee. Click HERE to read the full story.
Big weekend for the Fortuna Malaysian Racing Team
Last Saturday four Fortuna Malaysian based runners, EATONS GOLD, READY FORTUNE, OUR RIVER DANCER, KING SAVINSKY were all set to race on their home track at Penang, however torrential rain saw the meeting canceled and so now all four will race at Ipoh at the Perak Turf Club, this coming weekend.