Improvement tipped from Rohaise; Innes retains Kawi mount; Head-scratcher from quality sprinter.

Improvement tipped from Rohaise

Black type performer Rohaise is expected to give a much better account of herself at Awapuni on Saturday.

The topweight in the Hirepool-Noel Eales Memorial has done particularly well since an unplaced first-up run at Wanganui.

“She has taken a heap of improvement out of that and she will strip a lot fitter,” trainer Fraser Auret said.

The winner of five races, Rohaise also has Listed placings to her credit at Riccarton in the South Island Breeders’ Stakes and the Easter Cup.

Innes retains Kawi mount

Leith Innes will continue his association with Kawi in the Gr.1 Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie on Boxing Day.

They were the favoured pairing last time out in the Gr.1 Captain Cook Stakes where they got back in a slowly-run race and were unable to make any impression in the straight.

The tempo of the Trentham event also counted against third placegetter Soriano, who will be ridden by Opie Bosson in the Zabeel Classic.

Head-scratcher from quality sprinter

Donna Logan has found nothing amiss with her top-line sprinter Durham Town in the wake of a disappointing last-start effort.

The Ruakaka sprinter turned in an out of character performance when he tailed the field home in the Gr.3 Concorde Handicap.

“He cleaned up his feed when he got home, he’s not sore or anything like that so I can't say what that was all about,” Logan said. “It's the worst race he's ever turned in, but there's nothing wrong with him.”