Racing: Ritchie working to get Zurella on song

Trainer Shaune Ritchie (left) is looking forward to hearing James McDonald's opinion of King Dan today. Photo / APN

Cambridge trainer Shaune Ritchie is relieved he still has more than five weeks left to Zurella's next raceday assignment.

Her battling New Year's Day fifth in the rain-affected Royal Stakes at Ellerslie sent a message about her hopes on anything but the firmest ground.

But her flighty birdcage antics have left Ritchie with more questions than answers as he counts down the days to the Sir Tristram Fillies' Classic (2000m) at Te Rapa on February 11.

"She's putting on a bit of a performance pre-start so we're going to attack it as though it's perhaps a hormonal problem," said Ritchie en-route to the Ruakaka meeting today.

"We'll put her on some products that will perhaps keep her [a] bit calmer pre-race because you don't win group one Oaks and Derbys by putting on acts in the birdcage.

"We've got a bit of work to do but I don't doubt the talent's there and that's where the key ingredient is."

Ritchie says the natural-born stayer, an impressive Eulogy Stakes winner before her Royal Stakes miss, will tune-up for the Sir Tristram at the trials and with a couple of raceday road-trips as a stablemate companion.

"That will give us time to get on top of things and work a few things out with her."

Meanwhile, Ritchie is hoping to unveil another classic type in the form of Telecom New Zealand Derby hopeful King Dan in race six at Ruakaka today.

The Danroad gelding was an impressive winner of his past two trials and has James McDonald in the saddle on debut to give Ritchie an accurate guide to his Derby chances.

"He goes good; he'll be nice and hard to beat," said Ritchie, who won the Thames Cup with Wellington Cup hopeful Roi d'jeu on Tuesday.

"He's a pretty fair horse and he'll run a race for sure. He'll be better over more ground but I'm keen to hear James's assessment of how good he is."

Ritchie rates rival Rioviador the stand-out quinella combination in the same race. "She's been running some big races at Ellerslie from terrible draws and having no luck."

Ritchie's speedster One Hipp Chik, who used to be trained at Ruakaka by the Logans, should also be tough to beat in race four with Alex Forbes' 3kg claim.

But the trainer admits to having a slight reservation about her race fitness in her first start since last October.

"She's carrying a lot of condition so she might just be one run away but talent will take her a long way.

"We're just trying to get her to step back a gear. We might elect to sit off a little bit; when I say sit off I'm not suggesting out the back door but maybe not in the lead this time."

Ritchie's other runner Dreamliner (race 8) also holds a Derby nomination but he's not holding out too much hope of getting the Keeper gelding into the March group one.

"He's a bit of a mystery. He'll go forward with Alex [Forbes] on him and try and lead but he took six trials to win one so I'm not sure he hasn't got commitment issues in attacking the line."