Newcastle test for Dionysus

Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk 

15 November 2024 

New Zealand raider Dionysus will attempt to secure stakes success for his connections when he heads to Newcastle on Saturday to contest the Listed The New Zealand Bloodstock Beauford (2300m). 

Cambridge trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood had found it hard to place the seven-year-old gelding in New Zealand and looked offshore for potential targets and felt the Beauford presented as an ideal race. 

“He was getting to the stage where he was hard to place here. He was high up in the handicaps and he is possibly not a true weight-for-age horse, he is not very big,” James said. 

“A mile-and-a-half seems to be his pet distance and we spotted that one over there for him. He has come in okay at the handicap, it’s 2300m, we discussed it with the owner and thought it was worthy of having a go. 

“Whenever we have lined him up over 2300m or 2400m he has almost never disappointed us. Hopefully I can be saying the same thing in another 48 hours.” 

The son of Ocean Park, who was victorious in last year’s Gr.3 Waikato Cup (2400m), has settled in well across the Tasman and James said they will wait to see how he comes through his weekend run before making any further plans. 

“We will make a decision once we see the result,” he said. 

Meanwhile, the stable’s multiple Group One winner Orchestral is enjoying some time in the paddock following an unsuccessful Melbourne Spring campaign, which resulted in a sixth placing in the Gr.1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) and 12^th placing in the Gr.1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m). 

“She is home and in the paddock,” James said. 

“I thought her first run was full of merit, she just never got room. Her second run was probably the worst run of her life. We couldn’t fault her after the run, it’s just one of those headscratchers.” 

New Zealand targets await the daughter of Savabeel in autumn before a possible campaign in Australia. 

“There are a lot of opportunities in New Zealand in the autumn, so we will certainly be staying here until we see what her form is like and then work out if we want to go to Aussie from there,” James said.