Epic Clash Looms In Group 3 Christmas Gift

The clash of NSW Sprint champ Ritza Coen and Victorian star Catch The Thief is the highlight of the Christmas Gift at Wentworth Park on Saturday.

Michael Cowley17 December 2020

The clash of NSW Sprint Champion Ritza Coen and Victorian star Catch The Thief is set to be the highlight of the new format, Christmas Gift at Wentworth Park on Saturday night.

The Group 3 Christmas Gift will be run as a Shootout in 2020 with four match races staged, with the winner of each taking home $5,000.

The overall winner will be the dog which records the fastest time, and they will take home an additional $10,000.

When the draw was conducted on Tuesday morning, the four match races were: Fire Legend versus Drink Moet, Incapacitated versus Sunburnt Highway, Ritza Coen versus Catch The Thief, and Ebby Jet Power up against Poacher.

Rizta Coen returned to his best form with an impressive third placing behind Flying Ricciardo and Simon Told Helen in last Thursday's Group 1 Sportsbet Megastar at Dapto, while Catch The Thief tuned up for the Gift with a match race victory over Junk Food Junkie at Ballarat.

"I couldn't have been happier with his run at Dapto," Ritza Coen's trainer Mark Gatt said. "It was good to see him bounce back to form.

"With the way he races having to come from back in the field, the match race conditions really suit this dog, and he has run 29.49s at Wentworth Park.

"I'd say we'll be camped right behind Catch The Thief, and hopefully Ritza Coen can be strong enough to run him down.

"I'll take him to Wenty tonight for a post to post which should have him spot on for Saturday night."

Catch The Thief raced at Wentworth Park during the year, in the heats and final of the Vic Peters Classic in July. He didn't have a lot of luck in either event, but like Ritza Coen, the match racing format does suit the dog.

"Absolutely. He's 100 per cent suited by this format. He usually takes one of two steps on the mat to get going then he goes through his gears," trainer Matt Clark said.

"He got beaten a lip by Christo Bale in the Speed Star (match racing series at The Meadows in September) and then went over to Adelaide and won the match racing series there at Angle Park leading into the Adelaide Cup."

Clark said he hadn't planned to race Catch The Thief during December, following his Melbourne Cup heat run where he was battered around in the run when failing to qualify for the final.

But when the Ballarat club decided to stage a match race on their Cup program, Clark headed there despite the dog having never been to the track.

And he collected another match race win powering home over the top of the speedy Junk Food Junkie to win in 29.92s, only just slower than Yozo Bale's Cup winning time of 24.88.

The Gift will be supported on the card by the Group 3 Christmas Cheer for the stayers over the 720m, with Sydney Cup winner and last week's Newcastle Cup winner, Here's Tears (box 7) highlighting the field.

Here's Tears will be joined in the race by By Five Helen (box 1), Zipping Truvy (box 5), Let's See (box 4) and Stanley Road (box 8), which finished in that order behind him at Ladbrokes Gardens last Friday night in the Newcastle Cup.