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Dragon Leap back at Wexford; Generation looking for third Hong Kong Mile; She’s Alight chasing further black-type; Wilde aiming high with kiwi-bred mare
Dragon Leap back at Wexford
High-class galloper Dragon Leap has returned to Lance O'Sullivan and Andrew Scott's Matamata stable as he builds towards an autumn campaign.
The lightly-raced son of Pierro suffered a set-back in Sydney in the spring which put a halt to a Gr.1 Epsom Handicap (1600m) campaign.
A dual Group Two winner, the four-year-old has had six lifetime starts and finished eighth in the Gr.2 Tramway Stakes (1400m) in Sydney, just two lengths from the winner.
"We have no real plans at this stage," Scott said.
"We will just take him along very quietly over the next six weeks, work him through his paces and let the horse guide us.
"We have been teaching him to swim this morning and he has a bit of water-walking to do and a few things in front of him, but it is nice to have him back in the stable. He is a quality animal."
Generation looking for third Hong Kong Mile
The old firm of Zac Purton and New Zealand bred galloper Beauty Generation will join forces once again in Sunday's Gr.1 Hong Kong Mile (1600m).
Hong Kong's two-time Horse of The Year joined the David Hayes yard in the off-season following the departure of his previous handler John Moore from the Sha Tin training ranks and connections will be hoping for another bold showing in the race won by Beauty Generation in 2017 and 2018, while he also placed third last year.
With COVID-19 restrictions in play in Hong Kong, the usually effervescent International Meeting has had a more subdued build-up this year.
"It is just the world we are living in at the moment," Purton said.
"It is very much a different feel that takes some of the excitement and build-up away from it, but fundamentally at the end of the day we are still going to run the races and that is the most important thing.
"As an older horse the owners decided they wanted Beauty Generation to go into the race fresh, so we missed the traditional Mile Trial.
"He is coming into this off a seven week break, but he looks really good in the mornings.
"I feel like he has still got it. If he just pushed the gas one more time, he can be competitive."
The son of Road To Rock has had two starts under Hayes, finishing second in the Gr.3 Celebration Cup (1400m) before finishing sixth in the Gr.2 Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy (1600m), vanquished on both occasions by New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale graduate Golden Sixty, whom he faces again on Sunday.
She's Alight chasing further black-type
New Zealand-bred mare She's Alight will attempt to complete a Western Australian feature treble.
The Alan Mathews-trained five-year-old scored a surprise win in last Saturday's Listed Jungle Dawn Classic (1400m) at Ascot when given a hands and heels ride by jockey Patrick Carbery.
Carbery said the daughter of Tavistock resents being urged with a whip and must be coaxed to the winning post.
"She just won't go if the whip is applied," he said. "I get the best out of her with hands and heels riding."
The Listed Starstruck Classic (1600m) on December 19 and Gr.3 La Trice Classic (1800m) next month are both on the agenda for She's Alight.
"We spelled her soon after an Ascot win last May and aimed at the carnival," Mathews said.
"Saturday was her fourth start since resuming and she's hit peak form at the right time for mares' races."
Purchased by bloodstock agent John Chalmers for $65,000 out of the Cambridge Stud draft at the 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale, She's Alight has seven wins to her credit, one second and three thirds from 19 starts with earnings of $194,720.
Wilde aiming high with kiwi-bred mare
Warrnambool trainer Symon Wilde is enjoying a standout season and is hoping to add further success to the tally over the weekend when he has several runners aimed at Moonee Valley on Friday night and Flemington on Saturday.
Heading his runners is the well-bred staying mare Tralee Rose who Wilde will aim at stakes races in the New Year.
"She looks pretty promising, especially over the staying journeys, and she's given us every indication that will be her go, so we're looking forward to seeing what she can do over the mile-and-a-half," he said of the daughter of Tavistock.
"I think she's done a really good job to win in lower grade in what I think were unsuitable distances, as she's shown from the early days that she will want ground.
"We took her over for that 2500-metre SA Classic and she performed really well in running fourth.
"We put her away thinking we had a nice stayer on our hands and I think that has paid off as she's four-and-a-half now and she looks to be just hitting her straps."
Wilde said that if Tralee Rose runs well on Saturday, she is likely to return for the Listed Bagot Handicap (2800m) in the new year, when she could earn a shot at May's Listed Andrew Ramsden Stakes (2800m) and ballot immunity from the Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) that goes to the winner of that latter race.
Wilde said the veteran of just seven starts is showing enormous potential with three wins on the trot this campaign.
"We thought she'd win her maiden at Warrnambool but then we were really pleasantly surprised on Oaks Day (at Flemington) and then she was ridden upside down at Sandown but was good enough to get away with it," he said.
"Fourth-up, this is her trip and this is what we have been waiting for and she's there in a good space.
"It has nearly been the perfect prep as she's come through her grades so it's probably time to raise the bar. The Bagot is well worth considering and so is a race like the Andrew Ramsden.
"She's actually got a really good family so any black type for her is quite meaningful.
"We're dreaming of that (winning a big race) but we've always said next spring she will be at her absolute peak as a five-year-old."
Tralee Rose was purchased out of Cambridge Stud's 2018 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 draft and is out of the stakes place Zabeel mare Star of Tralee, a half-sister to Group One winner Serenade Rose and multiple Group performer Ronchi.
