Trainer Mike Moroney says no stone has been left unturned to ensure classy mare Tofane can produce her best for her swansong in Saturday’s Group 1 $600,000 Schweppes All Aged Stakes (1400m) at Randwick.
Trainer Mike Moroney (Pic: Grant Guy)
The six-year-old is set to be retired after what will be her 30th start and an attempt to emulate Sunline (2000 & 2002) and, with a year’s gap in between, win the All Aged twice.
Tofane downed Pierata in the last stride in the 2020 edition, interestingly she’s the only horse from that field still racing, and Moroney said coming into the race with a month between runs has given him the opportunity to throw everything at chasing a fifth career Group 1.
“We made the decision after her last start that this would be the one we’d be after and it would be her last run,’’ Moroney said.
“She’s always competitive in these races and she looks as well as she’s ever looked.
“I think she is going out at the top of her game. You like to see the mares in good form when they retire.”
After an all the way to win the Futurity Stakes first-up this preparation Tofane boxed on into third in the Orr Stakes, both at 1400m at Caulfield in February.
Moroney said her midfield finish in the All Star Mile was disappointing on face value but he believes the race wasn’t run to suit Tofane.
“It was a slowly run affair, she pulled her head off,’’ he said.
“We thought there’d be speed on and we’d ride her back off it.
“As it turned out we should have gone forward the way the race was run, it was farcically run. It was a trot and canter and sprint home.”
It’s not lost on Moroney that three of Tofane’s four Group 1 wins have come in the clockwise direction and hopes Mark Zahra can find a forward spot from a tricky alley.
Tofane has raced in Sydney five times, all in 2020, for her All Aged win, a third in the Galaxy, fifth in a TJ Smith and was unplaced in the TAB Everest and Sapphire Stakes. She was $8.50 with TAB on Thursday.
“We’d like to get her in her right rhythm. You can ride her wherever,’’ he said.
“They slowed right up (at Flemington) and got her out of her rhythm. As long as they flow along, which they tend to do more at 1400m, she’s fine.
“If she’s in the first five somewhere, getting a nice cart into it that would be lovely.”
Defending All Aged champ Kolding will need an improving track to be most effective according to trainer Chris Waller but he will bring some fresh legs into the race.
Kolding has only raced three times this autumn with a fourth behind Forbidden Love in the Canterbury Stakes his best performance.
“We’ve kept him away from the wet tracks and his last run was pretty good,’’ Waller said.
“The better the track the better he will go, I’d be a little reluctant to say he’s at his best on a heavy 8 or worse track.”
Stablemate Hungry Heart is another who has avoided the heavy tracks of late, racing just once for a fourth behind Think It Over in the Apollo Stakes back on February 12, but Waller said she needs to get going with a Brisbane campaign in mind.
“It’s been frustrating with the tracks,’’ he said.
“This time last year she’d won two Group 1 races during the carnival and she’s only had the one run and that was at the start of the autumn. She’ll only run up to her best if it is soft or better.”
– Racing NSW
