Setback won’t change plans for Stolen Dance

Leading mare Stolen Dance won’t be back racing as early as anticipated, but her main Group One goals remain in place.

A multiple placegetter at the top level, her connections decided to bypass the last two legs of the Triple Crown series at Hawke’s Bay in favour of a spell and a focus on the five-year-old’s summer preparation.

Stolen Dance had finished fourth behind Valley Girl when resuming at Ruakaka and she was unplaced behind Kawi in the Gr.1 Makfi Challenge Stakes.

“She’s back in work now, but she did have a wee hiccup while she was out spelling,” trainer David Greene said.

“She had a bit of a fight with a fence – it was no big deal. It has probably set us back a couple of weeks so I’m not 100 percent sure at this stage when she will be ready to kick off.

“It will probably be somewhere around Cal Isuzu Stakes time.”

Stolen Dance won the Group Two feature last December off the back of her Group Three success in the Eagle Technology Stakes.

“Her main aims will still be the Thorndon Mile and the Herbie Dyke Stakes. Whatever path we take before then will depend on when the mare’s ready to go, it’s just about getting that fitness back.”

Stolen Dance finished runner-up in both Group One events last season behind Kawi and Valley Girl respectively.

The Herbie Dyke Stakes will next February be run for a purse of $400,000, an increase of $100,000.

“It’s been very generous of the Dyke family to do that and to give Te Rapa such a showpiece race,” said Greene, a Waikato Racing Club board member. “It’s great for New Zealand to have a weight-for-age race over 2000 metres for such a stake.”