Saturday’s Te Rapa meeting was always intended to be the career starting point for well-named Time Test filly Delorean (NZ), but it was only this week that it became a debut at Group Two level.
Following last Saturday’s Trentham abandonment, the Gr.2 Hiddenbed Wakefield Challenge Stakes (1100m) was rescheduled for Te Rapa a week later, replacing the $40,000 two-year-old race that was originally programmed for the meeting.
The Wakefield Challenge Stakes had never been on the radar for Delorean’s trainer and part-owner Kylie Fawcett, but she is sticking to her Te Rapa plan despite the unexpected boost to prize-money and prestige.
“I was always going to run her in the two-year-old race at this Te Rapa meeting, back before it became the Wakefield,” Fawcett said.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be a Group Two race, but with the prospect of some rain around next week, I really want to kick her off on a good track.
“It’s not easy at stakes level first up, but quite a few in this field are in a similar boat and having their first or second start.”
Bought by Paul Willetts for $32,500 at Karaka from the Book 2 draft of breeders Little Avondale, Delorean was named as a nod to the iconic Back to the Future time-travelling trilogy from the 1980s. The filly has had three trials, catching the eye with a bold second placing in the most recent of them on November 29.
“I was really, really happy with that last trial,” Fawcett said. “We gave her a third trial because we wanted her to learn to settle a little bit better. She’d been running through the bridle in her first couple of trials.
“Vinnie Colgan rode her in that last trial, and she settled very nicely that day and finished it off really strongly.
“I’ve been very happy with everything she’s done since then, she just keeps ticking all the boxes, and now we’re looking forward to having a go on raceday.”
From the first New Zealand crop of Little Avondale’s exciting shuttle stallion Time Test, a bold performance on Saturday could put Delorean on the road towards the Karaka Million 2YO (1200m) at Ellerslie on January 22.
“That is the plan at this stage, but ultimately it’ll be a case of her telling us whether or not she’s ready to go along that path,” Fawcett said.
“One big thing she’s got in her favour is a really great temperament. I’ve got two Time Tests in the stable at the moment, and they’re both such great horses to deal with.”
Meanwhile, Fawcett reported that star mare Polly Grey – the winner of four black-type races and more than $500,000 in stakes since crossing the Tasman to join Chris Waller’s stable last year – is being prepared for another feature assignment in Sydney later this month.
The seven-year-old daughter of Azamour was originally prepared by Fawcett, who remains in the ownership, and is a last-start winner of the Listed ATC Cup (2000m) at Rosehill on November 27.
“She’s been doing well since then and is now heading towards the Gr.3 Summer Cup (2000m) at Randwick on Boxing Day,” Fawcett said. “Hopefully there’ll be a bit of rain around and she can be very competitive again. After that, I imagine Chris might give her a couple of weeks off before starting to make a plan for the early part of the new year.”
