High-class filly New Zealand Tajana has taken an impressive step toward a third Group 1 fillies’ feature for breeder and owner The Oaks Stud.
The Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray-trained three-year-old by Darci Brahma opened her classic season at Ruakaka on Saturdaywhere she overcame trying conditions to land the Group 3 Northland Breeders’ Stakes (1200m).
“I thought the track and the distance was right against her and I told him (Wiremu Pinn) to ride for luck,” the Oaks Stud general manager Rick Williams said.
“If she had run on for third, fourth or fifth we would have been happy and it just goes to show that good horses just know how to win, even when things aren’t going for them.”
Tajana is on a path toward the Group 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1000m) in a bid to join Risque (2015) and Seachange (2005) as winners of the Riccarton event for the Cambridge nursery.
“We’ve had a few placings since as well, but this filly looks our best chance since Risque,” Williams said.
“She’s only going to get better and certainly wasn’t wound up at Ruakaka. I thought our other filly Cashla Bay might have handled the track better, but she didn’t handle it at all according to Joe Doyle (and finished eighth).”
