Sydney Gets a Taste of Gingernuts

The Informant reports:

Gingernuts and his army of orange-capped supporters will make their first appearance at an Australian racetrack tomorrow (Saturday) in the Gr. 1 Rosehill Guineas, the first leg of a Sydney autumn campaign aimed at the Australian Derby.

In the two weeks since the Iffraaj gelding brought the house down with a sparkling New Zealand Derby win at Ellerslie, Te Akau principal David Ellis and trainers Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards have been plotting their raid on the Australian equivalent.

Following Gingernuts every step of the way has been his big group of owners in the Te Akau Gingernuts Syndicate. Richards expects huge support from an on-course contingent tomorrow, along with many more syndicate members and new-found fans back home in New Zealand.

“A syndicate like this is great for racing,” he told The Informant from Sydney on Wednesday. “I know Karyn (Fenton-Ellis) will be coming over for the race on Saturday, and I'm sure there will be a few of his owners there to cheer him on. They're a great group.”

"I took him for a walk and a pick and he was straight into his feed once he was in his box. I'm very pleased with his condition.”

Richards and Gingernuts made the trip across the Tasman on Monday, leaving their Matamata base at 7.15 in the morning and arriving at John Sargent's Randwick stable 12 hours later.

“He travelled over in really good order,” Richards said. “He didn't have a sweat mark on him when he arrived, so he handled it all well. I took him for a walk and a pick and he was straight into his feed once he was in his box. I'm very pleased with his condition.”

The step down from the 2400 metres of the New Zealand Derby to the sharper 2000 metres of the Rosehill Guineas was a stumbling block for Mongolian Khan in 2015, but Richards is optimistic that Gingernuts won't be troubled.

“I don't think he'll have any trouble stepping back in trip on Saturday,” he said. “He had a nice gallop at Matamata on Saturday, then did a bit more here this (Wednesday) morning - he didn't do too much, but it was very nice work. It looks to me like he's ready to run really well over 2000 metres.”

Another key factor in tomorrow's A$600,000 race is the likelihood of a significantly rain-affected track.

While the New Zealand Derby was run on a Good3 track, the performance that first propelled Gingernuts into the spotlight was in the Gr. 2 Avondale Guineas two weeks earlier, when he rocketed home from last for a clear-cut win on Slow8 ground. He also ran second to his subsequent Group One-winning stablemate Hall Of Fame on a Slow7 track as a two-year-old.

“We're not particularly worried about track conditions,” Richards said. “He's performed well on all types of ground, winning the Avondale Guineas on a wet track before he won the Derby on top of the ground. It might be an issue for some of the others, but it shouldn't be a problem for him at all.”

Gingernuts has drawn barrier four in a 12-horse field and will be ridden by his Derby-winning jockey Opie Bosson.

Provided he performs up to expectations tomorrow, Gingernuts will step back up to 2400 metres for the A$2 million Australian Derby at Randwick on April 1.

New Zealand Derby runner-up Rising Red was expected to line up again tomorrow for a rematch with Gingernuts, but he will instead go directly into the Australian Derby without another run.