Cambridge trainers Russell and Robyn Rogers have had a pleasing season and they are hoping that will continue at Tauranga on Saturday where they will line-up Better Times in the TAB Odds Surge Every Race At Tauranga (1600m).
The four-year-old son of Time Test has been a test of patience for the Kendayla Park principals, and they are hoping they will be rewarded this weekend.
He takes a last start placing into Saturday and has drawn well in two in the opening event on the nine-race card.
“He is a horse that showed a bit early on and then was a bit disappointing,” Robyn Rogers said. “He is quite a big horse and he was always trying to grow and he weakened off.
“We turned him out again and he has returned a much stronger version now.”
The Tauranga track was rated a Heavy10 on Wednesday morning and Rogers is looking forward to seeing how her charge will handle it.
“He doesn’t mind the cut out of the ground, but I am not sure he is a true heavy tracker so we will learn a bit more on the weekend,” she said.
“He had his final bit of fast work this (Wednesday) morning and it was super.”
Tauranga’s right-handed way of going also poses a concern for Rogers.
“My only hesitation is that we are going right-handed again this week and his most disappointing runs have been the couple that he has gone right-handed. His work right-handed is fine so this week will tell us quite a bit.”
Meanwhile, the Rogers are offering their Group Three winner Zecora for sale in the latest gavelhouse.com auction.
Bred by the Waikato couple, the daughter of Power went onto win four and place in four of her 13 starts, including victory in the Gr.3 J Swap Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa last December.
“She has been a family pet, so it was quite hard to make the decision to sell her,” Rogers said.
“She is just one of those horses that promised a lot and then delivered, and not many of them do that.
“She was good from day one, she won her first trial and then won her first start and gave us so much excitement. She never ran a bad race.
“She got injured, had a year off, and won a Group Three in her second start back.
“We have put her on gavelhouse, but we are not going to give her away, we have put a reasonable reserve on her. She will be a lovely addition to anyone’s broodmare band.
“We used to breed commercially and as we have got smaller we only breed to race now. She is the sort of mare we would always love to have owned, and in past years she is one we would go to Australia and try to buy.
“We are not against breeding from her ourselves, so if she doesn’t find a new home then we will breed from her ourselves, so it is win-win.”
Rogers said that while she is being offered as a broodmare, Zecora is still a viable racing proposition.
“We are selling her as a broodmare, but that is not saying that she can’t carry on racing,” she said. “When she went out to spell she went out sound, so there is no reason why she couldn’t come back.”