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Fans of exciting mare Love Affair will have to wait another seven days to see her commence her spring campaign.
The Savabeel five-year-old set was set to start in Saturday’s open sprint at Avondale but a change of plans will see now her run in the Gr.3 Red Badge Sprint (1400m) at Hastings this coming weekend.
Co-trainer Andrew Forsman believes the conditions of the Hastings contest are more in favour of his charge despite the prospect of facing some tougher opposition.“She’s ready to go and we could have run her at Avondale but once we had a think about it, the Hastings option was a little more attractive,” he said.
“She was set to carry a pretty big weight at Avondale, whereas she should get in somewhere near the minimum at Hastings.“While the 1400m isn’t ideal we think she is forward enough to cope with it.
“We know she will be up against some pretty handy types that are being talked about for the race, but on what she has done so far she is up to the challenge.”Given a decent break after downing class sprinter Volpe Veloce over 1200m at Te Rapa in late April, Love Affair has had a pair of trials to fit her for her opening assignment.
“She comes to hand pretty quickly and we were pleased with the way she performed in the trials she has had, which were both on fairly wet tracks,” Forsman said.“The main goal for her is to get some more black type so we will map out a campaign based on the options available.
“We don’t have any set plans, rather we will take it on a race-by-race basis.”Forsman also confirmed that stablemate Lizzie L’Amour would have the late entry fee paid for Saturday’s Livamol Classic (2040m) and will take her place in the final field for the Group One feature.