Group One winner Tiptronic (NZ) (O’Reilly) was one of the eye-catching runs at Ellerslie on Saturday, with the O’Reilly seven-year-old lumping 60kgs into a close-up fourth in the Auckland Co-Op Taxis 1600 won by Codecracker (NZ) (Nadeem) and looks set to make an impact deeper into the campaign.
The Graham Richardson and Rogan Norvall-trained galloper was second-up after resuming with a sixth placing at Taupo.
“I was very happy with the run on Saturday because he carried six kilos more than anything else, with the exception of Fiscal Fantasy (57kgs). It was a very good effort,” Richardson said.
“He ate up well, has done everything right and was stretching out well this morning. He’ll go to Te Rapa on October 2 for a mile or 2100m and then we’ll go down to the Livamol (Gr.1, 2040m) after that.
“Then we’ll give him a freshen up and get him ready for the Auckland carnival then Te Rapa for the Herbie Dyke (Gr.1, 2000m) again.”
The winner of in excess of $500,000 in prizemoney, Tiptronic won last season’s Herbie Dyke Stakes, defeating True Enough.
Richardson believes 2000m is Tiptronic’s peak distance, particularly as an older horse.
“I don’t want him peaking too quickly so he’ll more than likely go to the mile at Te Rapa next to be at his best for the Livamol,” he said.
Richardson is pleased with the depth of younger horses coming through the stable.
“I’ve got a lot of nice young horses at the moment including a filly by Exosphere called Belle Moi,” he said.
“She went shin sore after her last trial, which was a shame because she would have been going around at Hastings this weekend in the Gold Trail (Gr.3, 1200m) and there are plenty of others including Devotioninmotion. It’s really pleasing.”
