Tokorangi Ready for Adelaide Oaks Tilt

Quality filly Tokorangi (Redwood) has settled in well to her new surroundings in Melbourne as she prepares to make her Australian debut on Saturday in the Gr1 Australasian Oaks (2000m) at Morphettville. According to racingnews.co.nz, the 3YO daughter of Redwood (High Chaparral) made her way to Mike Moroney's Flemington base ten days ago, with Moroney's New Zealand training partner Pam Gerard confident she had thrived since finishing an unlucky seventh in the Gr1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) at Ellerslie last month. "We gave her a freshen up after her Derby run and she has really come back nicely from that," Gerard said. "She flew over to Melbourne about ten days ago and has settled in as good as gold. She had a couple of quiet days and then had a jumpout last Thursday morning where [likely rider] Mark Zahra rode her and he was very pleased with her." Moroney and Gerard had looked at a number of options for Tokorangi after her Derby run and settled on getting her across to Australia as that is where her future racing career lies. "We wanted to do the right thing by her so that's why we didn't send her to Trentham for the New Zealand Oaks (Gr1, 2400m) as that would have meant another a tough trip there and back." Tokorangi, who races in the colours of prominent Australian owner Ozzie Kheir, who bought into the filly early in her racing career, will be joined by another Kiwi raider on Saturday with the Stephen Nickalls-trained Llanacord (Contributer) also set to contest the race.

Tokorangi is in Australia for the Australasian Oaks (pic: Trish Dunell)