Sydney still on cards for Rondinella

Exciting four-year-old Rondinella will not head to Sydney to take her place in the Gr.1 Ranvet Stakes (2000m) on Saturday, but a trip across the Tasman still remains on the cards for the Roger James and Robert Wellwoodtrained runner.

“She’s not heading to Sydney this weekend, but we certainly still have some hope that she will get over there,” Wellwood said.

“There are two main options, there’s the BMW (Gr.1, 2400m) or the Chairman’s (Gr.2, 2600m).”

The BMW is at Rosehill later this month, while the Chairman’s Quality will be run at Randwick on April 6.

The daughter of Ocean Park put in a bold showing last start, finishing third behind Melody Belle and Danzdanzdance in the Gr.1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie earlier this month, and Wellwood was pleased with his mare’s run in the race.

“I thought it was a really good run from her,” he said. “The track definitely didn’t suit her and the two mares who beat her are proven on heavy surfaces.

“She got inconvenienced at about the 500m mark and when she finally got balanced up she started making up ground on two of the benchmark horses in New Zealand, so I thought it was a super run that had a lot of merit.”

Meanwhile, stablemate Hanger could head towards the Gr.2 Manco Easter Handicap at Ellerslie on April 20 after his solid runner-up performance at Tauranga on Saturday.

“It was a good performance on the weekend.

“Unfortunately the winner got a bit of a kick on the turn and by the time he got out it proved very hard to reel them in at Tauranga,” Wellwood said.