Thefixer to miss FreeForAll, Interdominions

NEW Zealand Cup hero Thefixer is staying home — not just from the Interdominions in Australia but from Addington tomorrow, too.

Trainers Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen were expected to decide yesterday between the Interdominion series which begins in Victoria on December 1 and starting Tuesday’s New Zealand Cup winner in the NZ FreeForAll at Addington tomorrow.

In the end, they decided on neither.

‘‘He was a tired horse, as you might expect, after the Cup and the best thing for him now is an easy time,’’ Purdon said.

‘‘So we will let him miss the freeforall and while we thought about the Inters, I don’t think he needs to be part of that series just yet.

‘‘So he will stay here, get ready for the Auckland Cup (December 31) and if we decided to go to Aussie later it will be more likely to target a oneoff race, like a Hunter Cup.’’

A similar northern programme also beckons stablemate Dream About Me, who finished third in the Cup and will miss both tomorrow and the Interdominion to be aimed at the Queen of Hearts at Alexandra Park on December 14 and then the Auckland Cup.

‘‘If she wins the Queen of Hearts it has the bonus of qualifying her for the Ladyship Mile in Sydney later in the summer,’’ Purdon said.

‘‘I watched the cup video again and saw just how hard she tried on Tuesday. She went great but I don’t want to back her up.’’

The All Stars, who won a remarkable eight races from nine they contested on Tuesday, are still likely to have Interdominion runners headed by Cruz Bromac, with others such as Spankem and All U Need Is Faith also possible chances.

But while impressive intermediate grade pacer Turn It Up has been thrown into the big time in the $200,000 FreeForAll tomorrow, he is a very unlikely Interdominion contender.

Cup runnerup Tiger Tara has again been savaged by the draw for the freeforall, drawing barrier 9, while the big winner was Jack’s Legend with barrier 1.

Tuesday’s group one trot hero Speeding Spur has secured his second perfect draw of the week in the $300,000 Dominion, New Zealand’s richest trot in which he will start from barrier 4.

That is made even more fortuitous by the fact most other predraw favourites — Marcoola, Great Things Happen, Kyvalley Blur and Temporale — have drawn the second line, suggesting Speeding Spur will get a start. — NZME