Tavi Mac gets barrier one in big draw shock
The week’s delay to the Foxbridge Plate has not changed the field for Saturday’s Group 2 at Te Rapa much but it could change the outcome.
The favourites for the $110,000 feature have had vastly differing luck in the re-draw caused by the race being put back a week because of the extended Covid-19 level 4 restrictions last Friday.
The Foxbridge has moved to Saturday after all racing was cancelled last weekend as the country remained at level 4. With the regions south of Auckland now at level 3, racing resumed yesterday and the industry faces a busy catch-up period in all three codes.
Racing goes ahead with only essential stable and racing personnel allowed on course, and even then with strict protocols, and no crowds.
The highlight of racing’s return will be Te Rapa’s two major races, the Foxbridge and the Breeders Stakes and while the fields look almost the same, there are some major changes.
Unbeaten three-year-old Palamos comes out of the Breeders after being in the original field last week while in the Foxbridge Plate second favourite Tavi Mac gets barrier one on Saturday and Avantage draws 10, potentially a huge difference from last week when Avantage was drawn handy and Tavi Mac wide.
That raises the possibility, or even likelihood, Tavi Mac settles in front of Avantage and gets his best chance to beat her in four meetings.
That alone sees them closer together in the market than last week’s aborted attempt at the race, with Tavi Mac opening at $4.60 but only $3.80 with the TAB for Saturday.
Another change is Danielle Johnson now rides Avanatge after Opie Bosson was declared for her last week but the champion rider is now caught in a bizarre racing twilight zone.
With the official Auckland boundary for this lockdown moved further south, Bosson is classed as being in Auckland and cannot travel south to ride at the Te Rapa meeting or any Waikato meeting.
“It is very frustrating because I actually now only live a few kilometres from the actual checkpoint and it is north of us,” explained Bosson. “So I can’t go north into Auckland and I can’t go south to ride.”
Johnson replacing Bosson will have little effect on the market, though, as not only was she the runaway winner of the premiership last season but Johnson has won four Group 1s on Avantage as well as riding her to defeat Tavi Mac in this race last season.
The mount gives her the two hot favourites for Saturday’s features as she will also partner exciting filly Imperatriz, the $1.70 favourite, in the Breeders.
The meeting, along with black type racing at Whanganui on Saturday, open class harness racing at Addington on Friday night and huge spring meetings in Melbourne and Sydney on Saturday means punters will at least have plenty to study and watch as lockdown drags on.
The key Kiwi interest in Australia will be in the A$500,000 Feehan Stakes in which Elephant and The Chosen One represent New Zealand.
Elephant is stepping up from winning a BM84 on his Australian debut to weight-for-age on Saturday which means he has to carry the same 59kg as many of the Group 1 performers in the field. He has drawn barrier one and opened the $5.50 second favourite.
The Chosen One has not fared so well with barrier nine in his first run since the Sydney Cup in April but has been backed from a pre-draw quote of $35 into $11 in Australia.