Tajana takes on the boys in 2000 Guineas
Richard Edmunds - Raceform • November 14th, 2025 12:03 PM • 3 min read
No filly has won the Gr.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas since Katie Lee in 2009, but a late change of plans has given Tajana the opportunity to break that 16-year drought in the $700,000 classic at Riccarton on Saturday.
For most of the spring, Cambridge trainers Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray had been pointing Tajana towards last Saturday’s Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas against her own sex.
The Oaks Stud homebred had been prominent in the fixed-odds market throughout that campaign, which started off with back-to-back Group Three successes in the Northland Breeders’ Stakes and Sunline Vase.
But things changed after last month’s Gr.2 Soliloquy Stakes, where Tajana finished third as the undefeated Well Written romped home by six and three-quarter lengths.
Ritchie and Murray elected to bypass a rematch with that freakish filly in the 1000 Guineas, and after watching Well Written outclass her opposition again last Saturday, Ritchie believes it was the right decision.
“I think what we saw in the 1000 Guineas has justified our decision to dodge Well Written,” he told RaceForm. “That was emphatic, and even the biggest fans of Tajana couldn’t really argue that we would have been any match for her.
“It’s a bit of an unknown going up against the colts in the 2000 Guineas, but it’s just extremely unlikely that we could have handled Well Written in the 1000 Guineas. We’ve been alongside the runner-up Lollapalooza all spring, and she had a gun run behind Well Written on Saturday and couldn’t go with her in the straight. It’s hard to imagine the race would have gone any better than that for Tajana if she’d taken her place in the field.
“Given all of that, we think we’ve pulled the right rein in deciding to take on the colts and geldings this Saturday instead.”
Even though the 2000 Guineas became the target relatively late in the piece, it was always the plan for Tajana to be peaking for a 1600-metre Group One around Riccarton in November. Ritchie is confident that will be the case for the daughter of Darci Brahma, who himself won the 2000 Guineas in 2005 and sired the 2019 winner Catalyst.
“We haven’t had her wound up in this whole preparation until now,” Ritchie said. “We’ve given her plenty of space between runs and have kept that little bit extra in the bin.
“She was always going to have a stack of improvement coming out of the Soliloquy. She was briefly held up and had to change ground at the top of the straight, and then she began to run out of puff in the last 50 metres and had a good blow after the race. That won’t be the case this weekend.
“We don’t know the quality of the colts that she’s coming up against on Saturday, but we’ll be presenting the best version of Tajana that we can. She’s in superb order. Her gallop this (Tuesday) morning was outstanding ahead of her flight down on Wednesday.
“The prospect of a bit of rain won’t bother her too much. She managed to win a Group Three at Ruakaka in her first start this season in spite of those conditions. I think it’ll affect us less than it might for some others.
“We’re very confident that going up to a mile will really suit Tajana, and I think the boys are going to know that there’s a girl in the race this year.”
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