Easter mile target for Natuzzi

Top-line sprinter Natuzzi will step up in distance at his next appearance in the Gr.2 Manco Easter Stakes.

“The Easter is at set-weights and penalties and not a handicap so we’ll aim him toward that,” trainer Paul Richards said.

“He won over a mile as a three-year-old and he was just beaten in the Haunui Farm Classic a couple of years ago.

“The statistics say his best distance is 1200 metres, but now he is older he has lost that bit of zip.”

Runner-up in the Gr.1 NRM Sprint two runs back, Natuzzi came from the outside gate to finish a last-start fifth in the Gr.3 Darley Plate.

“When he has to go right back it’s tough on him if they don’t go hard up front,” Richards said.

He is also bullish about the prospects of Natuzzi’s lightly-tried stablemate Bojangles in the AJC Members’ 1400 at Avondale on Wednesday.

“He’s done nothing wrong and he needed his first-up run at Pukekohe,” Richards said.

Bojangles was a debut winner on the course in the spring and a sixth placing followed before he was put aside. The son of Roc de Cambes returned in January to finish sixth behind the promising Sacred Way.

“Any rain wouldn’t worry him – he’s fit enough,” Richards said. “He’ll be a good chance, but I don’t think you’ll see the best of him until he gets to a mile and a quarter.”