3 minute read
Race day gallop with gear change makes a difference to G1 fancy.
The Railway Stakes is 12 days away but final preparations are well underway as Crocetti took to Ellerslie racecourse on Sunday for an important exhibition gallop.
The well-fancied four-year-old gelding was ridden by South African-born jockey Warren Kennedy with the application of blinkers a key change.
"We put the blinkers on him and it worked a treat," Kennedy told Auckland Thoroughbred Racing on X.
"He has had been finding it too easy in his three-year-old career and he stopped concentrating over the last 200-metres.
"He was on the job from the get-go and he was finding the line. I'm really happy."
Crocetti exhibition gallop heading towards the G1 Railway on Karaka Millions night. pic.twitter.com/JpNNsUv9d7
— Auckland Thoroughbred Racing (@Ellerslie_Races) January 12, 2025
A winner of eight races in his 12 starts so far plus two minor placings, the son of British sire Zacinto finished third last start in the Group 3 Concorde Stakes at Ellerslie on December 7.
The gelding won the Group 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton in November 2023.
That race was won by expected fellow Group 1 Railway Stakes (1600m) contender Babylon Berlin.
Kennedy, a 8-time Group 1 winner in South Africa, Kennedy moved to New Zealand in 2022 and has since added another six wins at the highest level to his record.
Railway Stakes Day at Ellerslie on January 25 will feature as a World Pool event with races participating in the parimutuel connection confirmed next week.
