Shezhardtocatch
has limited racing opportunities ahead of her, but she showed at Pukekohe Park
that she's in the right order to take advantage of them.
In foal to Showcasing, she returned from a brief break on Saturday to down a
smart field of sprinters in the Listed Haunui Farm Counties Bowl.
"We had a go at the Foxbridge Plate and after she ran sixth we freshened
her and got her in foal," said Allan Peard, who prepares the Elusive City
mare with Bruce Wallace at Byerley Park.
Shezhardtocatch came back to finish fourth at Ruakaka in September and a trial
outing at Ellerslie topped off her preparation.
"She's a tough mare and she trialled really well so we were quietly
confident that she was going to run well," Peard said.
Shezhardtocatch settled off the pace before she unwound powerfully in the hands
of veteran jockey Grant Cooksley to get in the deciding stride on the post.
"That's Cookie for you – he never panics," Peard said. "She's
certainly up to the best sprinters on her day and she'll definitely go to the
Concorde and maybe the Newmarket before the Railway."
Shezhardtocatch won the Gr.3 Concorde Handicap as a three-year-old before she
also added the Gr.3 Cambridge Breeders' Stakes to her record.
She is by Elusive City from dual stakeswinning Gold Brose mare Party Queen.
Promising mare Snowdrop (Pins x Daffodil (No Excuse Needed)) gave an excellent
account of herself in her open class debut to go under by only a short head
with a nose back to Perfect Fit (Elusive City x Fayreform (Tights)), who gave
the winner and runner-up five and six kilos respectively.