KEY POINTS:
Waikato trainer Roger James is to step up Hasta La Ciao Ciao to group one targets after her brilliant win in the A$100,000 ($117,000) Summoned Stakes in Melbourne on Saturday.
Hasta La Ciao Ciao was returning to Auckland last night after her two-race raid in Melbourne which also netted a third in the Liberty Stakes at Flemington on Melbourne Cup day.
James described Hasta La Ciao Ciao as a "seriously good horse" after her Flemington run and that opinion was franked by her win on Saturday.
She had a bad draw, raced three wide with cover, but powered to the front with 150m to go and cruised home to win by just under three lengths from Apaiser and Melrose Gardens.
"I'll freshen her up for the Telegraph now," said James, referring to the group one Telegraph Handicap (1200m) at Trentham on January 20.
He will then aim her at the Waikato Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa in February.
Hasta La Ciao Ciao made an impact in Brisbane during the winter and James' long term target for her is the group one Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm next June.
"I said when she won at Ipswich last winter that I would bring her back for the Stradbroke and I haven't wavered since," James said.
A 6-year-old mare, she has been sparingly raced because of hoof problems, but has won seven and placed in four of her 15 starts.
"She gets bruised soles very easily," he said.
Ridden by Greg Childs, Hasta La Ciao Ciao was sent out at $6 and overcame a wide run from her awkward draw in gate 13.
The victory gave Childs a winning double after he earlier scored aboard Jennings.
There was no luck for Otaki trainer Karen Zimmerman, whose stayer King Of Ashford finished fifth in the group two Sandown Classic (2400m) on Saturday.
King Of Ashford missed the start and was kept at the tail of the field by jockey Darryl Bradley until the field hit the straight. He powered home but too late to catch winner Gallant Guru, Casual Pass, Show Barry and Roman Arch.
"He just got too far off them," said Zimmerman.
"He should have been in a position where he could have tracked Casual Pass into it."
However, his finish confirmed to Zimmerman that King Of Ashford can handle the class of this race and she is keen to tackle it again with him next year.
"He will go out for a two-week break and then we will hit the Trentham carnival, probably the Wellington Stakes (2400m).
The win by Gallant Guru landed top Melbourne trainer Lee Freedman his first victory in the Sandown Classic.
Gallant Guru made it four successive wins in Saturday's weight-for-age feature.
The group two 2400m event has never been a race targeted by the Freedman stable but this year they had the right horse at the right time, according to assistant trainer Anthony Freedman.
"It's usually an afterthought but he had a good week and we decided to run him," Freedman said.
Gallant Guru has had five runs for the Freedman stable and 10 days ago completed a hat-trick of wins when he narrowly took out the group three Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2500m) at Flemington.
The Montjeu entire, previously with Leon Macdonald, had been quite unruly and the owners, headed by Harry Perks, sent him to Freedman to straighten him out.
Anthony Freedman explained that former jumps jockey-turned horse breaker Mark Stevenson had done a lot of work with Gallant Guru, with good results.
"If we've got a problem horse we get him in," Freedman said. "The horse just had a lot of bad habits which needed rectifying."
The victory kept up the outstanding run of heavyweight jockey Steven Arnold who has won four feature staying races during the spring carnival.
"We all know he's an outstanding rider and it was a positive and aggressive ride."
* Bart Cummings may have found the horse to give him his ninth Newmarket Handicap win after Swick stormed home to win the group three Sandown Stakes.
The lightly raced 5-year-old has been plagued by a rare knee complaint but underlined his class when he smashed the 1400m course record by half a second clocking a time of 1min 22.00sec.
Ridden by Luke Nolen, Swick gave the leaders eight lengths start at the 300m but came with raking strides to score comfortably by three-quarters of a length from the Gai Waterhouse-trained Anwaar.
- NZPA, AAP
