![\"Gr.1](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/breednet-images-jaarffi-27832.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNearly a decade after taking up the mantle as private trainer to Cambridge Stud owners Sir Brendan and Jo Lady Lindsay, Lance Noble has delivered results that he hopes to embellish at one of New Zealand\u2019s racing\u2019s biggest events, Boxing Day at Ellerslie.<\/p>\n
From his base at Lindsay Racing\u2019s lavish Karaka facility, Noble has prepared more than 120 winners in the gold and black Cambridge Stud colours, and with a select team lining up on the first big day of the holiday racing season, he\u2019s looking for more.<\/p>\n
Noble\u2019s team is headed by Jaarffi in the Gr.1 Cambridge Stud Zabeel Classic (2000m), a multiple stakes-placed six-year-old seeking her first major win.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He will saddle up two runners, topweight Mollify and Daring Dame, in the Dunstan Horsefeeds Stayers Championship Final, as well as First Dance in the Stella Artois 1500 Championship Final, Frostfair in the Entain\/NZB Pearl Series and two-year-old debutante Liguria in the SkyCity 1100.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of the brief when I accepted this role was to target the big days,\u201d Noble said. \u201cBrendan and Jo love racing at Ellerslie, especially on these feature days, so to have six runners in their colours on Boxing Day and another couple for New Year\u2019s Day from a team of 24, that\u2019s very satisfying, a big effort from everyone involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cMind you, they\u2019ve still got to front up, but we\u2019re not there just to make up the numbers, they\u2019ve all got the credentials to perform in the races we\u2019ve set them for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jaarffi meets opposition to compare with the very best Zabeel Classic fields, headed by triple Group One winner Waitak, reigning Horse of the Year El Vencedor and perennial Group One bridesmaid La Crique.<\/p>\n
Add quality performers such as Legarto, Qali Al Farrasha and Victorian raider Kingswood, and Jaarffi\u2019s attempt at a black-type breakthrough will be no pushover.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, it\u2019s a very strong field, as good as you could expect, but our mare has had an ideal build-up, she loves the track and is drawn well,\u201d Noble said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had no luck when she was just beaten in the Thoroughbred Breeders\u2019 Stakes (Gr.1, 1600m) here in March, so I\u2019d like to think she can be right in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The stronger of Noble\u2019s double hand in the Dunstan Stayers Final (2400m) is Mollify, who has earned her 59 kilo topweight with wins at her last two starts.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has come a long way pretty quickly and it\u2019s fair to say she deserves to be topweight.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe does put herself in a race and it\u2019s reassuring that she has followed a similar path to our two earlier winners of this race, About Time and Aquacade.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaring Dame\u2019s form is a bit patchy, but a couple of things have gone against her and she\u2019s at a good spot down in the weights.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrostfair had an excuse for her last performance at Te Rapa when she blew the start, so you can put a line through that. She\u2019s such a big mare, she can get a bit claustrophobic if she\u2019s in the gates too long.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer previous form was good and also in her favour is her record on the track and over the (1400m) distance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur Stella Artois Final runner First Dance was beaten a nose at her last start by Moxie, who is the likely favourite in this race, and the time before she finished second to Smart Love.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has an ideal draw and I\u2019m very happy with her.\u201d<\/p>\n
First Dance acted as baby-sitter for Noble\u2019s Boxing Day debutante Liguria at Monday\u2019s Ellerslie gallops session and both pleased with their work on the course proper.<\/p>\n
Liguria represents a significant phase in Noble\u2019s time at Linday Racing, being the daughter of one of his early feature performers in the same colours, Gr. 2 Matamata Breeders\u2019 Stakes winner Vernazza.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of my role here, the fantastic bloodlines I get to work with, and Liguria is no better example being by Snitzel from a very good galloper.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a first foal and has really strengthened and developed lately. She has a beautiful action and has run two nice trials and up against what you could call a pretty even field, I\u2019m looking forward to seeing how she goes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to be realistic going into these sorts of days, everyone\u2019s primed for a crack at the good stakes and it will be very competitive racing, but we\u2019re just happy to be part of it.\u201d \u2013 LOVERACING.NZ News Desk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly a decade after taking up the mantle as private trainer to Cambridge Stud owners Sir Brendan and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-367859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}