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Emerging stayer Blue Sky At Night missed out on her intended black-type targets this autumn, but a pair of impressive victories at Te Rapa have provided more than adequate consolation.
A bold first-up winner over 1600m on May 4, the Shamexpress mare returned to the Hamilton track on Saturday and delivered a repeat result in the PGG Wrightson Grain (2100m).
Blue Sky At Night spent the majority of the race at the tail of the field for apprentice jockey Tayla Mitchell, who then stayed closer to the inside and saved crucial ground when others came wide around the home turn.
Mitchell drove Blue Sky At Night through on the inside of the front-running Rua Rocks, who saw her coming and rose to meet the challenge.
It developed into a two-horse tussle to the finish, with Blue Sky At Night finding that little bit more and prevailing by a short head. The favourite Solidify finished another length and a half away in third.
"That was another good win today," trainer Shelley Hale said. "Tayla showed some great initiative and gave her a fantastic ride, and the horse did the job well down the straight. She's a very good, genuine mare."
Blue Sky At Night has now had 17 starts for four wins, three placings and $99,430 in stakes for owner-breeders Alistair and Isabel Barker.
She finished a close fourth in the Dunstan Stayers' Championship Final (2400m) at Pukekohe on Boxing Day, prompting Hale to target the Listed Hawke's Bay Cup (2200m) on April 13 and Rotorua Cup (2200m) on May 11, but minor setbacks got in the way.
"I haven't really made any other plans with her at this stage," Hale said. "When we gave her a break after the Dunstan on Boxing Day, the original idea was to bring her back in a little bit earlier and potentially go for races like the Hawke's Bay and Rotorua Cups. Unfortunately there were just a couple of little hiccups early in her preparation and we weren't ready in time for those races, but it's worked out okay in the end with these two wins.
"I'll have a look at the programme and see what we do with her from here. If we don't find any other suitable races, we could give her another breather and look at some staying races next season like the Counties Cup (Gr.3, 2100m) and Waikato Cup (Gr.3, 2400m). I do think she's a black-type quality stayer."
