Wolfgang to Continue Current Campaign

Trainers Peter and Shaun McKay are pressing on with their Group 3 performer Wolfgang (Puccini) following his disappointing showing in last Saturday’s Gr3 Counties Cup (2100m) at Pukekohe. The 6YO son of Puccini was backed into $3.60 favouritism for the feature following a pleasing Australian campaign where he finished fourth in the Gr3 Geelong Cup (2400m) and a runner-up effort in the Gr3 Balmerino Stakes (2000m) on his New Zealand return. However, he failed to fire and finished 10th in the 14-horse field, with his trainers putting his subpar performance down to his dislike for the track, despite its Good4 rating.  “It was a strange run. McNab (jockey) came in and said he didn’t think he liked the track, it was moving a bit under him,” Peter McKay said. “It hasn’t harmed him. The vets checked him out and he hardly blew. He is a horse that doesn’t really like it if he is caged in amongst them. I think that, with the track, he decided to switch off, which he has done in the past.” Ellerslie targets now await Wolfgang, with an eye towards some feature races over the Christmas-New Year period. A 6-time winner out of the Darci Brahma mare Navy Beach, Wolfgang has been stakes-placed three times and has current earnings of $270,000. “He is going to go back to Ellerslie next week to try and get a bit of confidence again on a track he likes,” McKay said. “We still plan to go forward from there to either the Boxing Day Gr1 (Zabeel Classic, 2000m) or the Queen Elizabeth (Gr3, 2400m) the following week, or both.

Despite a poor run last start Wolfgang will press on (pic: Trish Dunell)