Smoulder Headed For Te Rapa Feature

By Phillip Quay
Last season's record-breaking champion jockey James McDonald will be riding talented Te Awamutu-trained mare Smoulder for the first time in the $70,000 Foxbridge Plate (1400m) at Te Rapa on Saturday.

"It is the first time I've ridden her (Smoulder) but on last season's performances she will be a good ride," McDonald said.

Smoulder is trained at Te Awamutu by Graeme and Mark Sanders.

"She has come up very well in her new campaign," said Graeme Sanders.

Smoulder was among the leading three-year-old fillies in New Zealand last season.

Her most important success came in the Group 2 Eight Carat Classic (1600m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day. She also finished second in the Group 1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes at Te Aroha and third in the Group 1 New Zealand One Thousand Guineas at Riccarton.

Smoulder's performance on Saturday will determine her future plans but she does hold nominations for the first two legs of the Hastings Triple Crown series.

Smoulder has won four of her 12 starts to date and she has finished in the first four home on nine occasions.