Nathan pitches two inexperienced fillies into an open betting race at Cambridge Friday one, PRINCESS KREKA, being a $4 favourite while SOPHIE ARDEN makes her race debut, Nathan doing the driving, less well fancied at $12.
He feels there is not that much between the two but Princess Kreka, driven by Mark, ran a fourth in one of her two starts last campaign has an edge on experience- and also from the draw.
“That will probably be the difference though I am not quite sure how it will work out”
“Princess Kreka didn’t show a lot of pace out of the gate in her earlier races so the handy gate is not a given with a couple here able to run the gate but if she can kick out well enough to get somewhere handy then she is the better chance. I was reasonably happy with the trials last week because of the circumstances. Sophie Arden got behind one not quite doing it right and Mark had to take some evasive action so you can forgive her that.They ran some time home.It was a bit messy for us but they were ok”
Meanwhile RUBIRA (pictured) who was being considered for a southern campaign is to have a short paddock rest instead and is set for the Spring Cup next month.
“He had to race off long marks in the only eligible races up here and it was for the owner’s sake (Kennard Syndicate) that I was considering sending him south. However I talked to Phil and they were quite happy to wait on him which also suits me. He won well last week perhaps helped by Jeremiah being softened up a bit in the running and has come through it in top order”
At this stage Nathan intends to have a sizeable team in the south later in the Spring but awaits developments from candidates in their immediate racing.ALECTO and WAT NEXT trialled well last week and BEWARE THE STORM is an obvious candidate. LADY DI will improve a lot with her trial and is also in the mix.