Champion 2yo colt of 2013 Kochka
The 2012/2013 Equus Champion two-year-old colt Kochka makes his long awaited comeback at Scottsville today, his first run since his victory in the Gr 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes at Greyville 18 months ago, but the Alyson Wright yard have warned that he will definitely need the outing.
Kevin Wright said that due to the nature of his injury (tendon) he had been “underworked”, while Alyson added that recent rain coinciding with his intended hard-working days had also affected his preparation.
Kevin said, “There is no way to get him ready for the season in time unless we start him somewhere and after such a long break he will need this run and at least another one before he is back to where he was.”
The yard were therefore not bullish about even his class perhaps bringing him a victory in the seventh race, a Graduation Plate over 1200m, in which he is well in at the weights.
Proud moment – the Kochka connections at the Equus Awards
Alyson added, “Otherwise everything has gone really well in his prep and it will be good to see him back.”
The Wright yard have another interesting runner on the day in the form of the three-year-old Go Deputy filly Alpine Ridge, who runs in the fifth race, an MR 76 Handicap over 1400m for fillies and mares. Alsyon admitted that it was a very competitive field, so hoped Alpine Ridge could run a place.
The filly has a tricky draw of nine to overcome, but considering Scottsville is very much a “horses for courses” type of a track, the most interesting statistic in her three run career to date is that she has had one outing at the course for one victory.
She won here on debut over 1200m in “very soft” conditions, despite being palpably outpaced early, so she will definitely prefer the 1400m trip. Another noticeable detail of her debut was that she had to run around the inside horses that day and finished in the centre of the track. From her draw she will likely have to come down the centre again. A factor in her favour is that the progeny of Go Deputy improve continually with age.
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