Progressive mare Knobelas will stay in New Zealand and tackle next month’s G1 Herbie Dyke Stakes after her frustrating placing in Saturday’s $1 million Aotearoa Classic at Ellerslie.
The daughter of Bellardo stormed home from near-last at the 300m after encountering trouble at the top of the straight to finish a length behind Tuxedo.
The performance justified the stable’s ambitious placement of the four-year-old and Mick Price confirmed that connections will pay the $16,000 late entry fee for her to contest the $700,000 race at Te Rapa.
The Cranbourne trainer said he is on the hunt for a new jockey, with Craig Williams not riding at the meeting.
“They (NZ officials) told me there might only be eight runners,” Price said.
“I reckon she’ll get 2000m.”
The Herbie Dyke Stakes will likely have several Australian-trained runners with Gavin Bedggood’s last-start G1 winner Kingswood expected to run again.
The G1 BCD Sprint (1400m) will also be run at Te Rapa on 7 March and Lindsay Park confirmed their plans to keep Saturday’s G1 Railway Stakes runner-up Arkansaw Kid in New Zealand to run in the $500,000 race.
