Deja Vu in Karaka Million Countdown

Raceform's Richard Edmunds reports:

“The race at Tauranga on Friday could be a nice way to get things back on track with her, like what happened last year with Cool Aza Beel.”

Promising
filly Millefiori could follow in some Karaka Million-winning footsteps when she
makes an unplanned trip to Tauranga on Friday, just eight days out from New
Zealand's richest two-year-old race.

The daughter
of Iffraaj was due to follow a more traditional Karaka Million lead-up route
and line up at Ellerslie last weekend, but a slight temperature forced her to
be scratched on the day of the race.

A similar
thing happened 12 months ago with stablemate Cool Aza Beel, who used the
Tauranga race as a stepping stone to Karaka Million glory at Ellerslie.

“Millefiori
has just had a few little issues we've had to work on,” trainer Jamie Richards
said.

“But she
worked nicely this (Tuesday) morning, and we'll monitor her progress through
the week. The race at Tauranga on Friday could be a nice way to get things back
on track with her, like what happened last year with Cool Aza Beel.”

An impressive
winner on debut at Ellerslie on November 28, Millefiori is currently on the
second line of favouritism at $5.50 for the Karaka Million 2YO on January 23.

The
high-flying Te Akau team, winners of the Karaka Million in all of the last four
years, have four of the top five favourites for this year's race with On the
Bubbles ($3.80), Millefiori, Sneaky Shark ($5.50) and Avonallo ($8.50).

Sneaky Shark
is also in the line-up for Friday's race at Tauranga. The Capitalist colt has
had two starts for two promising placings, earning $5,000 in stakes to date.
That puts him in a precarious 13th place on the Karaka Million order of entry,
with just 14 places available in the Karaka Million starting gate.

“Sneaky Shark
is going very well,” Richards said. “My preference would probably be to not
have to run him again, but I feel like we might have to. He's right on the cusp
in that order of entry. It would be a big risk if we just waited until the
Karaka Million and hoped for the best. But he's in in good form and good
health.”

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