KRISTEN Buchanan says she is “back in the swing of things” following her third
winner over the Christmas-New Year holiday period.
To make it even more palatable, the Wyong trainer’s Muswellbrook winner yesterday, Invasive Dreams, was ridden by her apprentice Lauren Van Tijn for a group of owners of which her father Stewart is the manager.
Having her first start since July and also for her new trainer, Invasive Dreams ($4.60), aided by a patient ride under her 60kg topweight, took the Benchmark 58 Handicap (1000m).
Buchanan had been successful with the promising Rennata (Keagan Latham) on her home track on December 21, and with Broadway Bouncer, one of Wyong apprentice Anna Roper’s four winners at Port Macquarie last Sunday.
“It’s good to get back in the swing of things; I was off the boil there for a while,” Buchanan said this morning.
“When you’re in a trough, it’s hard to get out of it and it’s so nice to see the winners coming again.”
Buchanan was particularly effusive in her praise of her apprentice Van Tijn, who joined her stable about three months ago.
“Lauren is 24, and was foreperson for Cameron Crockett at Scone,” she said.
“Because she has been on the other side of racing’s fence, she has a broader perspective of matters. With her 3kg country claim, she is going to be invaluable riding my more experienced horses, such as Invasive Dreams yesterday, She gave her a great ride.”
Invasive Dreams was last on settling from an inside draw, but Van Tijn didn’t panic and saved
valuable ground staying on the fence.
She went around one runner on straightening, then found a gap and Invasive Dreams surged
through to comfortably defeat $2.90 favorite Speck and $41 outsider Time Ruler.
Invasive Dreams was Buchanan’s 13th winner of the season and 314th in a career which started in Western Australia in 2005.
Buchanan would liked to have had a crack at the approaching Provincial-Midway Championships with her recent Wyong winner Rennata, but the mare has not been with her long enough to be eligible for the series.
“I am giving her a break, and believe she has the ability to win in town,” she said.
Meanwhile, Hawkesbury husband and wife trainers Mitch and Desiree Kearney are heading to Royal Randwick tomorrow with the “old and the new”.
The “old” is stable flag-bearer and eight-times winner Lady Shenanigans (Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap, 1100m) and the “new” is debutante Sheeza Diva (2YO Maiden Plate, 1000m) – and Winona Costin will ride both.
Lady Shenanigans has been a marvellous performer for Team Kearney, being bought online for $1750 without having raced and has earned just over $307,000, whilst Pierro filly Sheeza Diva was a $15,000 purchase at last year’s Inglis Classic yearling sale.
Lady Shenanigans has been kept up to the mark since his home track victory on December 15 with pacework, some gallops, swimming and even a bit of jumping at home.
“We have a set-up at home with some small jumps for our daughter Isabella, who goes to pony club, and it keeps Lady Shenanigans’ brain active,” Mitch Kearney said.
“He’s fit and in form, and doesn’t deserve to be rated the rank outsider in pre-post betting. If Sheeza Diva runs a nice race first-up, we’ll give her a let-up and aim for the Inglis Millennium.”
The $2m Millennium (1100m), restricted to eligible Inglis two-year-old graduates, will be run at Randwick on February 8. Story by John Curtis, 3 January, 2025.
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