Racing: Bary telegraphs course for Recite

Recite will contest the group one Telegraph this month.Picture / Trish Dunell

Dual group one winner Recite will tackle the group one JR &N Berkett Telegraph (1200m) fresh up at Trentham on January 16.

The 5-year-old mare galloped over 1000m between races at Taupo last week, pleasing trainer John Bary.

"I needed to get a gallop into her and she did it well," Bary said.

"She's run 1:01 and come home in 35 seconds [last 600m] and she looked like she was doing pace work. She didn't break a sweat.

"She'll go straight to the Telegraph. She's just a horse that runs well fresh and she holds the track record at Matamata when she was first up."

Bary pinpointed the abandoned Windsor Park Plate meeting at Hastings as a tipping point that led to a disappointing spring for his team, including Recite.

"I just ran into bad track after bad track," Bary said. "The day at Hastings when the races were called off I had eight entered, and it put me, and a lot of trainers, on the back foot."

Recite raced well first up last preparation, narrowly failing to run down Allez Eagle over 1400m, with his recent group one Railway conqueror Ryan Mark finishing third.

The daughter of Darci Brahma then finished second to Kisses in the Taranaki Breeders' Stakes, when galloped on, before trailing the field home in the rescheduled Windsor Park Plate at Trentham.

"She was in season when she raced at Wellington," Bary said. "Even if she'd won the Windsor Park Plate, she would have still freshened up and been set for the Telegraph.

"She's a classy animal at her best and hopefully we'll see her at her best on January 16."

? Auckland Cup favourite Vavasour is likely to head to the Ellerslie feature via the weight-for-age group one Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa.

Vavasour has won the group three Counties and Waikato Cups at her last two starts and bypassed the Scot Thrust City Of Auckland Cup (2400m) at Ellerslie on Friday won by Decorah.

"She's only a 4-year-old mare and they can't go everywhere," co-trainer Peter Williams said.

"If the City of Auckland Cup was a group one she probably would have run but it's a group three and she would have had to carry 58kg.

"Running her at weight-for-age [in the Herbie Dyke] might not be ideal but it is a group one."

The Herbie Dyke will be run on February 13 with the Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Cup (3200m) a month later and another month to the group one Sydney Cup (3200m).

Vavasour, a $425,000 yearling buy, has already been a group two winner and the Redoute's Choice mare would have enormous value if she can record a group one win.

Vavasour is an $8 joint favourite for the Auckland Cup, along with unbeaten Rich Hill Mile winner Hasselhoof.
NZ Racing Desk