TARA ITI OFF TO PAKENHAM

Tara Iti is the one runner for Ballymore Stables in Australia on Tuesday as he heads to Pakenham.

The four-year-old son of Shocking is in race two, the APM Group Maiden Plate over 1600m and will jump from barrier nine with Patrick Moloney in the saddle, scheduled to jump at 1.30pm (aest).

Tara Iti resumed on July 2 when fifth at Sale over 1419m, beaten under three lengths and has pleased Mike Moroney since.

“I’m very happy with him - I’d have preferred to run him on a grass track but he needs to run,” Moroney said.

“One thing we have found is that horses that like soft ground tend to appreciate the synthetic at Pakenham so we will just have to accept it.”

Tara Iti has always shown promise and a strong piece of work with subsequent Flemington Saturday winner Rhythm To Spare last Tuesday has Moroney expecting a forward showing.

“If you went on his work he’d go close to winning,” Moroney said.

“I’m just mindful that the race is 1600m on the synthetic and he probably wants to be over a bit further.

“That said, I’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t run well and he’s come back to us stronger this time around.”