Cambridge Jockey Club's meeting at Te Rapa on Saturday features the Group 2 $100,000 Travis Stakes (2000m) and the Group 3 $70,000 Inglis Sales Cambridge Breeders' Stakes (1200m).
One of two meetings Cambridge JC have on the calendar, the eight race program has provided fantastic fields throughout the day.
The highlight will be the return of glamour colt, Xtravagant returning to the scene where he demolished a top class field in the Group 1 Waikato Sprint (1400m) in February.
A winner on debut as a juvenile, Xtravagant burst onto the scene with impressive wins in the Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas, then here at Te Rapa beating the older sprinters in the Group 1 Waikato Sprint. The striking colt faces a quality field in the Inglis Sales Cambridge Breeders' Stakes on Saturday. He'll be facing three runners Barnaby, Let Me Roar, First Serve - unbeaten in their two starts to date as well as six last start winners in Battle Time, De Niro, Koenigsegg One, Untamed Diamond, Cinematic and Hollywood Lass.
Trained by Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards, Xtravagant has set the benchmark for the three-year-old crop in this country to a mile but failed last start in the Group 1 Australian Guineas at Flemington, and was subsequently spelled. However a decision was made to bring the colt back into work with a view to a possible campaign in Brisbane, with the Doomben 10,000 and Stradbroke Handicap potential targets.
He faces a quality field including Battle Time, runner up - albeit 8 lengths - behind Xtravagant in the NZ 2000 Guineas. The Tim and Margaret Carter youngster will have a change of jockey with Sam Spratt replacing Vinnie Colgan. Spratt rode the Battle Paint colt when the pair finished second in the Group 1 Diamond Stakes as a juvenile. Battle Time shed his unfair tag as the best maiden galloper in New Zealand with a comprehensive win at Tauranga.
Another Tauranga winner on that day was the Jacob McKay trained Barnaby. The young Matamata trainer is aiming to train his first stakes winner on his own after tasting Group One success with Puccini when in partnership with his father Peter.
Colgan has decided to ride Koenigsegg One from the Tony Pike stable who is also on trial for a Brisbane campaign like Xtravagant.
