McCarroll putting on the Riz again with unfancied runner
Matthew Cahill will ride Lady Riz at Coonabarabran.Credit: Fairfax
Hobby trainer Karen McCarroll was left scratching her head after near triple figure odds were bet about her mare Lady Riz last start.
The five-year-old ran a fast-finishing third at Coonamble, and now the Wellington-based trainer is hopeful that Lady Riz can go two better on Coonabarabran’s cup meeting on Sunday, despite once again being overlooked in early markets.
“She has been a slow learner and is starting to settle down on race days,’’ McCarroll said. ‘‘In the tie-up stalls, she used to be a handful but now it’s part of her routine.
“She is a mare that you have to keep balanced. If she gets unbalanced at any point in the race she loses the plot, so a rider like Matthew [Cahill] seems to have control over her, allowing her to run home.”
Lady Riz was an impressive winner at Wellington second up over 1400m on a soft track, so McCarroll won’t be using that as an excuse either if the surface becomes rain-affected.
“The Coonabarabran track is a bit tricky,’’ she explained. ‘‘It is more or less on the side of the mountain. It has a long run down the back straight before going down into a gully and then there is a rise home.
“It shouldn’t phase her though.
“She probably doesn’t want any further than a mile, but she doesn’t have the sprint for 1200m races – she gets left flat-footed. She is right in this race.” Supplied by Racing NSW