NZ Mares Primed for Queensland Challenge

Class gallopers Jennifer Eccles (Rip Van Winkle) and Two Illicit (Jimmy Choux) furthered their preparations for their respective upcoming Queensland Winter Carnival assignments with separate exhibition gallops during the Te Rapa racemeeting on Saturday. According to NZ Racing Desk, last season’s Gr1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) winner Jennifer Eccles was having her first serious hit-out off the back of a decent summer break following a disappointing spring campaign that saw her below her best in two of her three runs. Trainer Shaune Ritchie, who prepares the mare in partnership with Colm Murray, was thrilled with how the Rip Van Winkle four-year-old pulled up from her exertions on the weekend. “She has come back super and much stronger than she was… If we go [to Brisbane] she will just have two runs over there, with the Tatts Tiara (Gr1, 1400m) in late June her main mission.” Meanwhile, the Roger James and Robert Wellwood-trained Two Illicit was on a plane to Sydney on Sunday morning as she prepares to tackle the Gr2 Hollindale Stakes (1800m) at the Gold Coast next Saturday. Now in Sydney himself, James enthused, “I thought it was just beautiful work and I was delighted with how she pulled up afterwards. She will take on the Hollindale Stakes and after that her mission is the Doomben Cup (Gr1, 2000m) a fortnight later.” Two Illicit could also add the $1.2 million Q22 (Gr2, 2200m) added to her schedule which is run three weeks after the Doomben Cup.

New Zealand Oaks heroine Jennifer Eccles (pic: Race Images Kenton Wright)