Sassy 'n' Smart Set for Stakes

The Informant reports:

Xtravagant added to Te Akau Racing's glittering record in the 2000 Guineas with his amazing eight-length romp last Saturday, and tomorrow (Saturday) it will be Sassy ‘N' Smart's turn to uphold a proud Te Akau tradition in a Riccarton feature.

The tangerine and royal blue colours have been carried to victory in the Barneswood Farm Agistment Welcome Stakes four times in the last 13 years - by Maroofity in 2002, Xbert in 2005, Encosta Diablo in 2009 and Bespoke in 2010.

Sassy ‘N' Smart, bought by David Ellis for A$150,000 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, has the credentials to join that company in tomorrow's Listed $50,000 event.

By Smart Missile out of the Empire Maker mare Panorama Ridge, Sassy ‘N' Smart was a three-length trial winner before making a winning debut over 800 metres at Riccarton on October 24. After a slow start she quickly proved her class, bursting to the lead 150 metres from home and winning by three-quarters of a length despite racing greenly down the straight.

“She has the look of being a very smart filly,” co-trainer Jamie Richards told The Informant. “She was the first runner and winner for the exciting sire Smart Missile, who was a very good two-year-old himself. Hopefully this filly could be going the same way.

“She won very impressively in her first start and she's been doing well since then. Nothing's been a problem for her and her work has been very good.

“I don't think the step up from 800 metres to 1000 metres will be any problem for her, and I'm just hoping her barrier manners will improve with a bit more experience under her belt. We're hoping that she'll run a really good race.”

Being a Sydney yearling purchase, Sassy ‘N' Smart is ineligible for the Karaka Million at Ellerslie. Richards suggested a Group Two feature on the filly's home track is likely to be her summer target.

“We'll see how she goes on Saturday, but I would say that she'll probably come back to Matamata afterwards and be given a bit of a break,” he said. “Then we'll bring her back and find some nice races for her. She looks to me to be a Matamata Breeders' Stakes filly, so I would say that would be her target. If she's going well enough, we'd push on to the Group One races at Ellerslie and Awapuni in the latter part of the season.”