"With a slow track on the cards at Hastings, we have decided to concentrate on the mile and the 2000m races at Hastings and give him [Hold It Harvey] his lead up race closer to home," Matt Shepherd, the co-owner of Hold It Harvey with Riccarton trainer Terri Rae, said.
"It will also be one less trip away from home." Ryan Hurdle, who can claim 3kg, has been engaged to ride Hold It Harvey at Oamaru.
Hold It Harvey, winner of the Awapuni Gold Cup, White Robe Lodge Handicap at Wingatui and Thompson Handicap at Trentham and $188,000 in stakes last season, has not raced since April.
• Belmont Cat, a group race winner in the United States, after a listed win in New Zealand, resumes racing at Hastings on Saturday.
Belmont Cat, now trained by Chris Wood at Cambridge, has not raced for 13 months.
Wood was encouraged by the win of Sangster at Warwick Farm yesterday. Belmont Cat ran third to Sangster and Dollario in a 1000m trial at Te Teko on August 2.
Sangster, trained by Trent Busuttin at Cambridge and ridden by James McDonald, has now won twice from three starts.
"She [Belmont Cat] has had the one trial and she doesn't do much on the track so we hope to get a better line on her from her race [1200m] on Saturday," Wood said.
He is training the 7yr-old mare for Peter Anastasious and Ken Biddick, of Melbourne.
They bought the daughter of Felix The Cat and Morgan Glory at a mixed sale in the United States, where she won twice including, a group two 1800m race at Santa Anita from eight starts.
Belmont Cat had been sold to the US after she won the listed Warstep Stakes (2000m) for 3yr-old fillies at Riccarton in 2008 when trained by Michael Daly at Washdyke.
Wood trained Command 'n Conquer to win the 2005 Ballarat Cup for Biddick.
• Keep The Peace ran the fastest time of the three winners of the open heats over 1200m at the Cambridge trials yesterday.
Keep The Peace was ridden by Jason Waddell, who has been away from race riding since early June last year. He was suspended after testing positive to methamphetamine.
His suspension expired on August 1 but his return to race riding has been delayed by a broken leg sustained in a soccer match.
Keep The Peace ran 1.12.21 on a slow track yesterday. She has not raced since April. She won the Mudgway Stakes (1400m) fresh up in the spring.
The other 1200m heat winners yesterday were Mindy (1.14.77) and Run To The Bank (1.13.21).
Winners of the open heats over 950m were Antonio Lombardo (57.16), Ishigood (56.21), Tintern (57.2). and Sadist (57.04).
• Hypernova won an open 1200m heat at Otaki yesterday in 1.16.35 on a slow track. Zennista (1.03.73), Sharp Princess (1.03.54), Reuben Thorn (1.02.98), Ransomed (1.04.45) and Figure Again (1.03.04) won open heats over 1000m.
