Within the space of less than half an hour on Saturday afternoon, Andrew Forsman will be represented by key chances in Group Three races in both Australia and New Zealand.
At 3:37pm, the Cambridge trainer will send out Mary Shan and the defending champion Wessex in the Gr.3 Rotorua ITM Stakes (1400m). Just 25 minutes later, Forsman’s classy staying filly Positivity will line up as favourite for the Gr.3 Ken and Helen Smith SA Fillies’ Classic (2500m) at Morphettville.
Positivity has come a long way in a short time, having made her debut with a fourth placing at Matamata just three days before Christmas. The Almanzor filly won at Tauranga next time out, then finished seventh and eighth without much luck in the Gr.3 Desert Gold Stakes (1600m) and Gr.2 David & Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic (200m).
The breakthrough came in the Gr.3 Sunline Vase (2100m) at Ellerslie on March 2, where she scored a tenacious victory over Qali Al Farrasha, and that pair went on to finish second and third behind Pulchritudinous in the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at Trentham.
Positivity stepped back down to 2000m for a last-start appearance in the Gr.1 Australasian Oaks at Morphettville on April 27, and Forsman was far from disappointed with her Australian debut. She dropped well back in the 16-horse field and did her best work late, running on into ninth. She finished 3.7 lengths behind the winner Vibrant Sun, with subsequent Gr.1 South Australian Derby (2500m) heroine Coco Sun in third.
The step back up to 2500m on Saturday is expected to be a big help for Positivity, who the TAB rated a $2.50 favourite on Friday morning.
“It was a pretty good effort in the Australasian Oaks after nothing really went to plan for her,” Forsman said. “We ideally wanted her to settle in the first three or four, but she went up in the air when the gates opened and then got squeezed out the back. She was just in the wrong position from that point on, but I thought she was quite strong late in the race.
“She’s had a good few weeks since then. She’d had a decent gap between races and was a touch fresh going into the Oaks, so I think she might have needed the run a little bit.
“The extra distance this week should be absolutely ideal for her. We’ve seen her perform very strongly over that sort of trip already this season, and against a field that’s probably lacking some of the classiest fillies from the Oaks, it looks like a really nice race for her.”
Back home, Mary Shan is rated an $8.50 chance for the Rotorua ITM Stakes, holding fourth favouritism behind La Crique ($3), Karman Line ($8) and I’munstoppable ($8).
Like Positivity, Mary Shan is a daughter of Cambridge Stud stallion Almanzor. She was a four-length maiden winner over the 1400m distance of the Rotorua Stakes back in the spring, then finished second in the Gr.2 Soliloquy Stakes (1400m), fifth in the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m), second in the Gr.2 Eight Carat Classic (1600m), fourth in the Gr.1 Levin Classic (1600m) and fifth in the David & Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic.
In her first appearance for more than two months, Mary Shan produced an eye-catching finish from near last to run sixth in the Gr.3 Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) at Te Rapa on April 27.
“I thought she was great in a race that wasn’t really run to suit her,” Forsman said. “The pace was only steady, which made it hard to make up ground, and she was back and wide. But I was really happy with the way she found the line, and she’s come through that run in good order as well. Stepping up to 1400m will suit her.”
Wessex won last year’s Rotorua Stakes on a Heavy10 track, and Forsman suggested that the Soft7 conditions at Rotorua this time around might negate her advantage.
“I’m happy with how she’s coming up,” he said. “She’s had an exhibition gallop and a trial, and I think she’s pretty much where we need her to be.
“The question with her is whether the track will be as heavy on Saturday as it was when she won the race last year. She can really skip through wet ground a lot better than some other horses, but it’s looking like she won’t have that as much in her favour this time around.”
Saturday’s other black-type feature at Rotorua is the Listed Campbell Infrastructure Rotorua Cup (2200m), which features last-start Listed Hawke’s Bay Cup (2200m) placegetter Sporting Chance.
“His run in the Hawke’s Bay Cup was very game and he seems to be coming of age,” Forsman said. “I’ve been very happy with him in between times. It can be tricky going between different types of wet tracks at this time of the year, but he’s in good form at the moment and can be very competitive again if he produces a similar performance.”
