Burley decides on right-handed start for Happyto Keepa Mon, 11 Jun 2012

Jocelyn Burley has had a change of heart and now intends starting her Te Rapa weekend winner Happyto Keepa in the Listed Team Wealleans Classic at Tauranga on Saturday week.

Immediately after the Keeper mare had made a winning open class debut on Saturday, Burley expressed no desire for a return to right-handed racing. All five her wins have been on left-handed tracks and at her previous start she finished sixth at Ellerslie.

A scan of upcoming programmes combined with an admission that Happyto Keepa’s Ellerslie failure may have been due to other reasons have caused a rethink, however, and the Tauranga fillies and mares’ feature is definitely on the agenda.

“She can be a bit temperamental and when I take her to the races on my truck she has a mate go with her for company, Burley explained. “She had to go by public transporter to Ellerslie though, and that meant she didn’t have a mate. She got herself in a bit of state and that probably had as much to do with her performance as anything.”

Happyto Keepa earned 11 rating points to go to 90 with her win on Saturday, and Burley says that now that she’s in open company the Tauranga weight-for-age event over 1400 metres is an obvious next start.

“Beyond that there isn’t much left for the rest of the winter,” the Cambridge trainer added. “I might look at stepping her up to 1580 metres for the Te Awamutu Cup. There’s a two-week break between Saturday and Tauranga and the same before Te Awamutu. That seems to suit her.

“I have no desire to travel her down the line and there’s a fair bit of racing coming up at Ruakaka, but that wouldn’t suit her.”