Why barrier 1 should be seen as a blessing for Legarto

Friday, 9 February 2024 by Gavin Haynes

Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)

When preparing to ride a favourite in a Group 1 WFA contest, New Zealand and Australian Hall of Fame jockey, Shane Dye was always happy drawing barrier 1.

His philosophy was “it’s the shortest way home, I’ll relax my horse, save ground and worry about getting a run from the 600m”.

That idea is one that Ryan Elliot would do well to adopt when riding LEGARTO in Saturday’s G1 Herbie Dyke Stakes at Te Rapa - trust in her brilliance to get out of any potential tight spots.

The star mare has a performance rating advantage over her opposition, and if the event isn’t run quickly (there’s little pressure on paper) then her turn-of-foot is superior to all. The only ‘chink in her armour’ is whether she has the stamina to run 2000m and on that, there are three-levers pulling in different directions:

1.     Class: She’s superior to the others so the step from 1600-2000m isn’t so significant.

2.     Pedigree: G1 Goldmine, the leading analytics-based breeding website in the world suggests her limit is clearly 1400-1600m.

3.     ‘The eye’: The way she travels in a race, relaxes, and then sprints suggests that 2000m will be a perfect trip for her.

Ryan Elliot is set to jump LEGARTO from the inside draw in the Herbie Dyke at 3.28pm NZT (5.28pm AEDT) on Saturday. What he does and how the horse responds will make for compelling viewing.

Overall, it’s an excellent card of racing at Te Rapa with the G1 BCD Sprint the other main drawcard that features the unbeaten CROCETTI against the G1 Railway Sprint winner, WAITAK.

HorseTorque NZ has previewed the card and you can view the analysis now!