Sharrock stars coming out to play at Trentham

5 December 2014

The immediate futures of a member of Allan Sharrock’s Group One club and a pair of younger stablemates on the threshold of stardom will be determined at Trentham on Saturday.

I Do (No Excuse Needed) will contest the Gr.1 Rydges Wellington Captain Cook Stakes in what is likely to be her penultimate appearance while Kawi (Savabeel) and The Bold One will be in action on the undercard as a forerunner into top level competition.

“Depending on the mare’s performance, there’s a window for one of two races afterwards – either the Manawatu Challenge Stakes or the Zabeel Classic,” Sharrock said.

“Maybe she is looking for the 2000 metres at Ellerslie and that would be a nice race for her swansong.

“We’re very proud of her and she got the Group One she so deserved. She’s the most consistent mare in New Zealand.”

The winner of 15 of her 37 starts, I Do’s career was crowned with her victory in the Makfi Challenge Stakes and she has placed in three subsequent starts.

Runner-up in both the Gr.1 Windsor Park Plate and the Gr.3 Taranaki Breeders’ Stakes, she was a last-start third in the Gr.2 Tauranga Stakes.

“She was three wide on speed and that didn’t suit, but she was courageous as ever and she’s continued to work well since,” Sharrock said.

The Bold One’s performance in the Haight Ashbury Hairdressing Premier will decide which Group One path he follows at Trentham next year.

“He’s a lovely, big animal with so much natural ability,” Sharrock said. “Saturday will answer a few questions as to whether he’s got quite enough pep for the Telegraph or we switch to the Thorndon.”

The latter event on January 24 is on the programme for Kawi, who runs in Saturday’s Phil Cataldo Bloodstock Premier.

“If he wins he will run in the open sprint at Awapuni two weeks before the Thorndon,” Sharrock said.

“He’s had a nice trial at Waverley and while he hasn’t raced for six weeks he’s been kept up to the mark and he’ll be very hard to beat.” – NZ Racing Desk.

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