It took Riodini more than two years to break his duck in Australia but now that he has, trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott are hoping he can keep his momentum rolling into the summer.
The former Kiwi, who arrived in Sydney in the spring of 2020, posted a third-up victory in Saturday’s $1 million The Gong (1600m) at the stand-alone Kembla Grange meeting, his first success since taking out the 2019 Bonecrusher Stakes in New Zealand.
Bott confirmed The Ingham Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on December 10 was the next leg in their two-race plan for the six-year-old.
“I thought his runs in the two sprint races, the Sydney Stakes and Nature Strip Stakes, were excellent,” Bott said.
“We felt if he could take that improvement into The Gong, with the drop in weights and a dry track, he would get his chance and everything fell into place for him.
“The two main runs he has been set for this spring (and summer) are The Gong and The Ingham.”
Tim Clark has ridden Riodini at his past two starts in the Nature Strip Stakes (1300m) and The Gong and he has no doubt Waterhouse and Bott are on the right path with their plans.
Clark said the gelding was strong through the line at Kembla and predicted he could take that form to Randwick in three weeks.
“These two races Gai and Adrian picked out for him suited perfectly for his program and there is no reason why he can’t go on and be very competitive in that race,” Clark said.
Australian Bloodstock import Nugget could also emerge as a contender for the $2 million The Ingham after an impressive win in a support race on The Gong program.
Having just his second local start for Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, the former European got Jason Collett’s tick of approval, the jockey believing Nugget would not be out of place in the feature mile if he could squeeze into the field.
“They’re going to head that way I would imagine,” Collett said.
“He’s now top of the 88 benchmark and beyond that, so hopefully he can get into the race and I suppose that’s the next worry for them if they head that way.”