The
Nigel Tiley-trained Riodini kicked-off his raceday career in perfect style at
Counties on Thursday, winning the NZB Insurance Pearl Series Race (1200m) and securing
the $8,000 bonus for his connections.
The two-year-old son of Proisir headed into the race off the back of a 935m
trial win at Cambridge last month and Tiley was pleased with his first-up
effort, winning by three lengths over Sai Fah, with a further three lengths
back to Ruby Negroni in third.
"He got to the line very well. I think he is a nice horse with a future, he's
really starting to go places. I look forward to him as a three-year-old," Tiley
said.
"He has just been a bit slow to mature and he has been shin sore a couple of
times.
"We will give him a little break and get him back for the spring. He's a horse
that is just going to get better with time."
Jockey Sam Spratt shared the same sentiments as Tiley and believes Riodini will
mature into a nice three-year-old.
"He ran really well and I think he still had plenty left to offer me," she
said. "The one draw was the biggest assist today, but he has been very well
educated, which makes it easy.
"He was able to hop out and travel pretty willingly in the trail. I weighed my
options up at the 600m with him, (with them) being three-wide in front, and I
didn't want to get stuck without getting a run, so I opted just to pop off and
give him his chance to find the line. He was strong to the line, it was good.
"He has done a good job and I think he's the kind of horse that will go on at
three and be competitive in those good early three-year-old races." - NZ Racing Desk