A three-year-old race on the Riccarton Park synthetic track on Saturday will be used as a stepping stone towards spring stakes targets for highly talented local filly Diablo Blanco.
The daughter of Super Seth goes into Saturday’s CJC Feature Nominations Close 27 August Three-Year-Old (1200m) as the winner of two of her five starts.
After finishing fifth on a heavy track on debut last September, she scored a smart win in her second start at Riccarton on October 28 and then was runner-up on November 15.
Those promising performances were enough to prompt trainer Richard Didham to venture north for the Gr.2 Wakefield Challenge Stakes (1100m) at Trentham in early December, where Diablo Blanco finished a highly creditable fourth. The race was won by the subsequent dual Group One placegetter Captured By Love.
In her only appearance since then, Diablo Blanco kicked off a new campaign with a comfortable victory at Oamaru on July 21.
“She was fantastic first-up after going 228 days between runs,” Didham said. “I thought that was a really good effort. She pulled up great from that and has done everything right in between times. I couldn’t be more pleased with her.”
Didham is keen to get back up into feature age-group company with Diablo Blanco, starting with the Listed New Zealand Bloodstock Canterbury Belle Stakes (1200m) at Riccarton on September 14.
“I think this race on Saturday is ideal, because it’ll give us three weeks into the Canterbury Belle,” he said.
“She’s drawn well on Saturday (gate four) and I think she’ll be hard to beat. It’s her first race on the synthetic track, but I train locally, so she does a lot of work on it and seems comfortable with it. A lot of mine seem to handle it well, and I think she’ll be fine.”
Diablo Blanco will be ridden by Ashvin Goindasamy on Saturday and is the TAB’s $1.50 favourite.
Didham also has proven synthetic performers Chairman and Analyst lining up in Saturday’s TAB Rating 80 (1600m). Goindasamy will ride Analyst, with Leah Hemi taking the mount on Chairman.
Chairman was previously trained by Guy Lowry and Leah Zydenbos at Hastings. The Charm Spirit gelding joined Didham’s stable earlier this year and has recorded three wins and a placing from his last four starts, all on the synthetic track.
The previously Glenn Old-trained Analyst has also had success since moving south, winning a 1200m race on the Riccarton synthetic track on July 26 and producing an eye-catching finish for fourth on August 7.
“Chairman and Analyst both like the synthetic and have been going really well lately,” Didham said. “I’ve been thrilled with both of them since they joined my stable.
“Their work has been very good leading into Saturday. It’s a nice chance for them to run for a good stake ($50,000), and I’m expecting them both to run well again.”
Didham’s other runner at Riccarton on Saturday is the 11-year-old King Cougar, who will contest the Christchurch Casino 27th South Island Awards 13 September Rating 80 (1200m). The Alamosa gelding has finished ninth in both of his two previous runs in this preparation.
“I think he’s improved, which he’d need to,” Didham said. “He has won on the synthetic and placed multiple times on it too, and it’s a six-horse race, so why not have a go?”
