{"id":49271,"date":"2025-08-07T01:44:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T01:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/49271\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T01:44:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T01:44:20","slug":"connections-hoping-to-bridge-gap-to-wfa-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/49271\/","title":{"rendered":"Connections hoping to bridge gap to WFA test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.racingnews.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Leroy-Brown-RIPN.jpg?fit=1200%2C808&amp;ssl=1\" data-caption=\"Leroy Brown will contest the Dunstan Horsefeeds Handicap (1200m) at Te Rapa on Saturday.&#010;Photo: Peter Rubery (Race Images Palmerston North)\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"469\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Leroy-Brown-RIPN.jpg\"   alt=\"\" title=\"2045832.jpg\"\/><\/a>Leroy Brown will contest the Dunstan Horsefeeds Handicap (1200m) at Te Rapa on Saturday.<br \/>\nPhoto: Peter Rubery (Race Images Palmerston North)<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Freegoing five-year-old Leroy Brown (NZ) (Ace High) will be chasing a crack at a weight-for-age feature when he resumes at Te Rapa on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The talented son of Ace High returns to action in the Dunstan Horsefeeds Handicap (1200m), and success would firm up plans for a return in two weeks\u2019 time in a bid for higher honours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cWe want to have a go at the Foxbridge Plate (Gr.2, 1200m) and we\u2019re behind the eight ball a bit on the ratings,\u201d trainer Stephen Ralph said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cIt will be a tough field on Saturday and hopefully we can get a good result and then chase the Foxbridge, that\u2019s our first aim.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The gelding is a five-time winner, with his latest victory in the autumn posted at Matamata at the expense of Val Di Zoldo, who landed the Gr.3 Manawatu Breeders\u2019 Stakes (2050m) and Gr.2 Travis Stakes (2000m) at her next two starts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Leroy Brown subsequently finished midfield in the Gr.2 Japan Trophy (1600m) before a break and was a comfortable winner of his open 900m heat at Monday\u2019s Taupo trials.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cHe\u2019s a bit older and his mental game has undone him in the past, he tended to want to do things too early and that affected his breathing, but we feel he\u2019s a lot better now,\u201d Ralph said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cHe\u2019s absolutely perfect in his trackwork and I feel he is progressing well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Leroy Brown was partnered at the trials by Gareth Lahoud, who will take the mount again on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cWe think Gareth is a really talented rider, it\u2019s a tough field with Twain and Force Of Nature there, but he\u2019s got a good draw (one),\u201d Ralph said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cI know he has won on a heavy track before, but he really does like it better than that so that\u2019s what we\u2019re hoping for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Raced by breeders Parsons Bloodstock, Leroy Brown could also be in line for an overseas trip if his form warrants raising the bar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cWe would like to think he can pick up a decent black-type race here, Keith (Parsons) and I are keen to get to Australia with him,\u201d Ralph said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cIf he can keep ticking boxes then we might get there, maybe Sydney in the autumn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cIf he came up really well, we could get to Melbourne, but there\u2019s a lot of water to go under the bridge to see where he can get to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leroy Brown will contest the Dunstan Horsefeeds Handicap (1200m) at Te Rapa on Saturday. Photo: Peter Rubery (Race&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-49271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}