Racing: Trainers lose stable star Danzdanzdance to Chris Waller

Opie Bosson rides Danzdanzdance to victory in the Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie on Boxing Day last year. Photo / Trish Dunell

Chris Gibbs is disappointed but understanding about losing stable star Danzdanzdance to Australia.

The two-time Group 1 winning mare has been transferred to champion trainer Chris Waller for what is likely to be her last season of racing after failing to hit her straps so far during a brief Sydney campaign.

Losing the services of the wonderful grey mare was a bitter pill for Gibbs and training partner Michelle Bradley to swallow but the Ruakaka horseman was pragmatic yesterday.

"Sure, it is disappointing to lose a horse as good as her," admits Gibbs.

"But it is also hard to argue with the owner's wishes. They want to race her in Australia I suppose for the better stake money and to have a crack at group one-winning black type over there before she goes to stud.

"I was keener to bring her home here because the way she raced there last start and then trialled only okay on Friday I didn't think she was quite where she needed to be for that level.

"But this is part of racing and all of us, Michelle, our staff and I, wish the horse all the best because we have loved training her."

With Sydney racing in the midst of a stakes explosion it is hard to argue with any owner who wants to send their elite horse to the likes of Waller, who regularly gets offered horses from New Zealand, Europe or other Australian trainers for the exact same reasons as Danzdanzdance.

Often Waller weaves his magic as he did with Nature Strip in the A$1 million Moir Stakes at The Valley on Friday night.

But it is not a guaranteed pathway to group one glory as Savvy Coup, a similar class of mare and old sparring partner of Danzdanzdance, showed when she joined Waller last season without adding to her resume.

Danzdanzdance has won four of her 16 races for what was the Donna Logan/Chris Gibbs stable before that became the Gibbs/Bradley partnership, with her two group ones in the Captain Cook and the Zabeel Classic last season helping her to just over $600,000 in stakes. She was also part of the race of the season when she and Melody Belle waged equine war down the length of the Ellerslie straight in the Bonecrusher Stakes last March.

Danzdanzdance isn't the only group one-winning Kiwi mare struggling in Sydney as Avantage and Volpe Veloce both raced well below their best in the Shannon Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday.

Avantage was trapped three wide and back on a muddling speed and was under a rider a long way from home and finished last, with Volpe Veloce only just in front of her.

"She simply isn't racing up to her best over here so we will bring her home," said trainer Jamie Richards.

"She hasn't been maybe quite right, looking back, since that hard run she had fresh up at Ruakaka so we will give her a short break and plot a path with her then."

Rider Andrew Adkins said Volpe Veloce travelled well but was disappointing in the straight and it wouldn't surprise to see her return to NZ and race closer to home. Meanwhile, Richards reports both Te Akau Shark (Epsom) and Probabeel (Flight Stakes) are spot on for their huge assignments at Randwick next Saturday.