Trainer Robbie Patterson believes there are two reasons his outstanding mare Coventina Bay can’t win today’s $350,000 Telegraph at Trentham, and two other reasons why it makes sense to try.
The Group 1 sprint is the highlight of the opening day of the Wellington Cup carnival and historically the second leg of New Zealand’s great sprinting double, but coming just 13 days after the Railway at Te Rapa, it is down a level on that race.
It still boasts defending champion Levante and Railway runner-up Babylon Berlin, and they are the two reasons Patterson says Coventina Bay would do well to run third today.
“She doesn’t have the early speed of these really quick 1200m horses, so she will be back on the rail and charging home late,” says Patterson. “She will be giving Babylon Berlin five lengths, and she can’t do that and run past her. And while she will be closer to Levante, she will be behind her starting the last 400m as well, and we aren’t going to be running past her either.
“So I think a good result for her would be charging into third, and a Group 1 sprint placing next to her name won’t do her any harm later in life as a broodmare.”