Right Hand Boxing Day Test

The Informant writes:

The only lingering concern around boom three-year-old Xtravagant ahead of his return in Saturday's New Zealand Herald 1400 at Ellerslie is racing right-handed, but co-trainer Jamie Richards believes it will pose no problem to the Group One winner.

The Pentire colt's place among New Zealand's elite three-year-olds is in no doubt following his last-start success in the 2000 Guineas at Riccarton, where he produced one of the most impressive performances in the history of the race to win by eight and a half lengths in record time.

However, his one start at a right-handed track was at Ruakaka in September, where he hung badly before finishing eighth behind The Justice League - the only unplaced finish of his career.

But Richards, who trains the three-year-old in partnership with Stephen Autridge, expects no repeat of Ruakaka. Xtravagant is a vastly more mature and professional racehorse now, and the stable have given him plenty of right-handed training. He also impressed in a recent exhibition gallop at Tauranga.

“He seems to have grown up a lot in the three or four months since Ruakaka,” Richards said. “He's done a bit of travelling and had the big trip down to Christchurch. I don't think racing right-handed will be a problem for him anymore. We've been putting a lot of work into training him that way around.”

They have also adjusted Xtravagant's gear, replacing the rubber nose band used at Ruakaka with a more substantial leather band.

Richards has been pleased with Xtravagant's work leading into Saturday's resuming run, including a particularly strong gallop at Matamata on Tuesday morning where his final 200 metres were clocked in 11.6 seconds.

“He's doing really well and we're very pleased with him,” Richards said. “His work right-handed on the course proper this (Tuesday) morning was excellent. We're looking forward to taking him back to the races on Saturday.”

Safely through Saturday's $50,000 event, the next assignment for Xtravagant will be the Gr. 1 Levin Classic on January 16.

“He'll just have this one run leading into the Levin Classic in January,” Richards said. “The timing suits him nicely. The Levin Classic is a Group One and quite a few stallions have won it in the past, so that would be a nice race to have on his CV and a logical stepping stone towards bigger things in Australia later on.”

Xtravagant's opposition on Saturday includes stakes performers The Justice League and Selfie along with last-start winners Mongolian Empire, Precision Miss and Stacey Ann.