Gerard’s Guineas stars warm up for spring targets

Romanoff and Affirmative Action gave trainer Pam Gerard a dream result when they quinellaed the Group 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton last year, and the Matamata horsewoman is hoping they can have another successful spring preparation.

They both had their first public hit-out of the season at the Te Rapa trials on Tuesday where Affirmative Action comfortably won his 1100m heat, while Romanoff was strong late to finish runner-up behind Dusty Road in his heat over the same distance.

Gerard has been happy with the way Affirmative Action has been building into his spring preparation, with Tuesday’s trial a pleasing first-up outing as he heads towards next month’s Gr.1 Proisir Plate (1400m) at Ellerslie.

“He has come back bigger and more bullish, and mentally a little bit stronger,” Gerard said. “He had a pretty big season that probably caught up with him towards the end of the season, and he has had a nice spell, probably the first really good spell that he has had.

“I thought it was a nice trial from him today, he did it very easily. He is heading in the right direction.

“We will have a nom in for the Proisir Plate for Affirmative Action. We will just see how it comes up and ratings wise whether we are going to get in or not, I think it is going to be quite strong. We do have a Plan B where we can try and get his confidence back, but we will see how he pulls up over the next few days. It was pretty heavy out there today, so hopefully it hasn’t taken its toll too much.

“We will be targeting a few of the bigger races through the season and hopefully pick something up.”

Gerard was also pleased with what she saw from Romanoff and said he will be kept for the last two legs of the Spring Triple Crown at Hastings – the Group 1 Howden Insurance Mile (1600m) and Group 1 Livamol Classic (2040m).