3 minute read
Contributer filly set for trip across the Tasman.
Talented New Zealand-trained filly Llanacord (Contributer) will make the trip across the Tasman, with trainer and part-owner Stephen Nickalls eyeing a tilt in the Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) with the daughter of Contributer (High Chaparral).
The three-year-old filly won the Lowland Stakes (Gr 2, 2100m) at Hastings last month and was last seen running third behind star mare Amarelinha (Savabeel) in the New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) at Trentham.
"The plan is to go to Adelaide and we will line-up in the Australasian Oaks and then a fortnight later there is the Fillies Classic," Nickalls said.
"She is going to fly out on Wednesday next week to Melbourne and get on the transporter to Adelaide.
"We are going to base ourselves at Ryan Balfour's place, he has stables at Morphettville."
With a trans-Tasman travel bubble coming into effect on April 19, Nickalls will head to Adelaide himself to oversee Llanacord's final preparation.
"The plan is for myself to go," he said. "We are working out a few things at home, we have got other horses and we do it all ourselves. We have just got to make sure we can make that all work."
Nickalls is looking forward to the trip, his first time campaigning a horse in Australia.
"It's both exciting and a little nerve-wracking," he said.
"I was talking with (Wanganui trainer) Kevin Myers the other day and he said it is no different than going to the South Island, it is just further away."
Nickalls has been pleased with Llanacord since her placing in the Oaks and he said she will have one final hit-out at Te Rapa this weekend before heading to Australia.
"She had a quiet couple of weeks after the Oaks and is very well," he said.
"With her rating, it has got hard finding a suitable race. We are going to have to drop back to a (rating) 74 mile at Te Rapa on Saturday to give her a hit-out before we go.
"She is going to carry a truckload of weight, but we can't do much about that, that's what happens when you win races, they give you points."