Ryan Thistoll is looking forward to the inaugural Ripple Creek Equine Polytrack $100,000 (1200m) at his home course of Riccarton Park on Wednesday, where he will line-up synthetic specialist Strike Force (NZ) (Battle Paint).
Strike Force has won four races over his favoured 1400m distance and two of them have come on the Riccarton Synthetic, most recently two starts back before finishing fifth behind race-rival Sorcha in mid-June.
Thistoll considered a trip north to Awapuni for the 1400m equivalent race on Friday, but being based at Riccarton made the local contest a more suitable option, with Lee Callaway booked to ride the gelding out of barrier seven.
“After his last run we thought we’d freshen him up, we did consider taking him to Awapuni but it’s just too far for him to travel and with this on our back doorstep, we thought we’d have a go,” Thistoll said.
“We put him in the paddock for two weeks and have bought him up slowly, just keeping the drop back in distance in mind. He hasn’t done a hell of a lot, but we think he’s ready to go.
“Hopefully he can jump and hold his place just in behind the leaders, that would be great. Coming back in distance, hopefully he’s not left flat-footed too early.
“Having these races is great, it gives horses like that a chance to run for decent stakes when they probably wouldn’t get that sort of opportunity.”
The son of Battle Paint has just turned nine but has been carefully handled by Thistoll throughout his career since returning from Hong Kong in 2019, having just 17 starts.
“He spent a year in Hong Kong and had a tendon injury over there, so during his first year with us we really looked after him to get the mileage back into his legs and avoid the injury reoccurring,” Thistoll said.
“We’ll give him a decent break after this race and then hopefully look at a race like the Southern Alps next year, but I don’t think he’s got a lot of time left being rising ten. I don’t want to flog him for too long.”
