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All roads lead to Riccarton for Intention
Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk • October 24th, 2025 12:54 pm
Intention will contest Sunday’s Upper Hutt Car Sales LTD Three-Year-Old 1400 at Trentham | Photo: Peter Rubery (Race Images Palmerston North)
Mike Breslin is at a crossroads with his filly Intention, with her performance in Sunday’s Upper Hutt Car Sales LTD Three-Year-Old 1400 at Trentham dictating which path she takes.
All roads lead to Riccarton next month for the daughter of Bivouac, with Breslin weighing up between the Gr.1 Barneswood Farm New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) on November 8 or the Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) a week later.
“We haven’t decided which one she will run in yet. She will only run in one of them and we will make that call after she races on Sunday,” Breslin said.
The Awapuni trainer took good heart from her last-start third placing in the Listed Canterbury Belle Stakes (1200m) at the Christchurch track, and he said she has come through that run and trip well.
“That was a bit of a test run,” he said. “She coped exceedingly well and we have given her plenty of time to get over that trip because we always had in the back of our mind that she might need to go back down there again in November.
“She had a reasonably easy time when she got back from the Canterbury Belle and this is the race we picked out for her to bring her up to 100 percent for Christchurch.
“The set weights and penalties doesn’t suit her for that race on Sunday. She is not very good in at the weights for a smallish three-year-old filly, but the race will serve its purpose in getting her 100 percent fit.”
Intention had a hit-out at the Foxton trials on Tuesday, where she ran third in her 850m heat, and Breslin said that has helped bring her on ahead of her weekend assignment.
“I am really happy with her, I just gave her a quiet trial,” he said. “She did everything under her own steam and I was more than happy with her.”
Breslin will also head to Trentham with Ima Brazen One and Kosta, who will be first-up in the Rothley Sprint (1000m) and Graham’s Painters Sprint (1000m) respectively.
Ima Brazen One won her 850m trial at Foxton on Tuesday and Breslin is using Sunday as a test to see if she can handle the Trentham chute, something that has troubled her in the past.
“She has come up exceedingly well. She is a bit bigger and stronger version than what we have seen in the past,” he said.
“She has had two or three runs down the chute and hasn’t handled it that well as a younger horse. I will be interested to see how she copes with the chute now that she is a little more mature.”
Kosta has had just the one trial this time in, finishing fourth over 1000m at Awapuni earlier this month, and Breslin is hoping he can put in a bold showing in a fresh state over Sunday’s sprint distance.
“He is a talented horse,” Breslin said. “I normally give them two trials, and I have only given him one, with the idea that he may sprint well in a very fresh state. Hopefully he will have a decent prep this time in, I think he can go through the grades.”
Meanwhile, promising stayer Crouch will head to Tauherenikau on Saturday week where his performance in the Feilding Cup (2050m) will dictate whether he heads south to contest the Gr.3 Martin Collins New Zealand Cup (3200m) at Riccarton a fortnight later. – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
