Regally bred mare Manifique will be seeking to continue her strong run of form when she heads to her home meeting at Awapuni on Friday.
The daughter of Champion New Zealand sire Savabeel and four-time Group One winner Shez Sinsational will line-up in the Carters Ashurst Pohangina Cup (2100m) where she will be ridden by Kozzi Asano from barrier six.
Manifique heads into the race in a fresh state after being given time in the paddock following her last start win over 2200m at Trentham last month.
“It will be a month between runs, she had six days in a nice grass paddock after Wellington,” trainer Peter Didham said.
“I thought Wellington was a really tough run, she was three-wide the whole way and four and five-wide on the corner.
“She might want the run tomorrow after having an easy time after Wellington. We have just got to make sure she didn’t peak on that. We will know more tomorrow.
“I want to see her hitting the line strong. Allan Sharrock’s horse (Islington Lass) will be hard to beat, she looks a pretty good horse.”
Manifique has now won two and placed in one of her 10 starts and Didham believes the best is yet to come from the mare.
“She has been a slow-maturing Savabeel. There is not a lot of her and she is getting better all of the time,” he said.
“I think her go will be next year. We have just got to be a bit patient with her. She hasn’t had a lot of runs. When she won her maiden by eight lengths, she told us she has got the ability.”
The four-year-old mare will likely have one more start this preparation before heading to the spelling paddock in preparation for next season.
“With winter coming, she might only have this one and one more. She will have five to six weeks off and be in the box in the worst of the winter and be ready to go at the end of the season,” Didham said.
“We will try and get some black-type with her in the fillies and mares races.”
Manifique is a half-sister to Group One performers House of Cartier and Sinarahma, and Didham believes he could have another on his hands back home.
“The family is really kicking goals now,” he said.
“We have got an outstanding looking Almanzor two-year-old filly out of Shez Sinsational. She is probably the nicest of the ones that she has foaled, so we are quite excited about her.”
Meanwhile, on Saturday Didham will head north to Te Rapa where he is hoping to get a line on Tivaci filly Kana, who will take on a strong line-up in the Tuatahi Fast Fibre 3YO (1200m).
“This is only her third run back after nine months, so there is still a bit of improvement in her,” he said.
“We will get a good line on her on Saturday with four or five really good, smart and quick northern three-year-old fillies.
“It is a good little field. Any rain won’t worry me. We have trialled and won on Heavy and Soft ground, and we have got a two-kilo claim. Westwood should go pretty hard and we should be somewhere around there.
“If we run in the first three or four, we will know where we are going in the future and be able to start planning around that.
“The trip away will be good for her and to see where she is placed.”
Closer to home, Didham is set to line-up Far Site in the Listed Power Farming Hawke’s Bay Cup (2200m) at Hastings, however, with three meetings on Saturday, he is finding it hard to secure a jockey.
“We are struggling to get a rider. With one horse on 59kg and everything else on 53kg, and three meetings on a Saturday, is not ideal,” he said.