Gingernuts primed for Derby
New Zealand Derby and Rosehill Guineas winner Gingernuts is likely to start the favourite for Saturday’s Australian Derby despite drawing wide at barrier 12 at Randwick.
Fellow New Zealand Derby placegetter Jon Snow has drawn gate nine in the 13-horse field which is minus Rising Red who was ruled out last week.
New Zealand co-owned Anaheim to be ridden by Hugh Bowman for Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young has drawn the inside gate.
Co-trainer Jamie Richards can’t find any fault with Gingernuts ahead of his third Group I challenge.
With two down and one to go, the New Zealand Derby and Rosehill Guineas winner will be at the top of his game.
‘‘Everything has gone according to plan and the horse is super,’’ Richards said.
‘‘He did a little bit of work on Saturday morning and this morning he worked over 1200 metres on the course proper at Randwick with one of Gai Waterhouse’s horses.
‘‘It gave him a good look around and he did all that was expected of him.
‘‘He’s not a big, strapping colt who needs a lot of work – he’s more of an athletic type.’’
Gingernuts was dominant in the New Zealand Derby on good ground at Ellerslie before he coasted away with the Rosehill Guineas on heavy footing.
‘‘The track on Saturday isn’t going to worry us at all,’’ said Richards, who trains the son of Iffraaj with Stephen Autridge.
‘‘They might think he goes better on soft ground here, but he can go on anything.’’
The Randwick track had improved from a heavy 8 on Monday into the soft range by Tuesday morning, but showers are predicted in the area on Thursday.
Richards is more than familiar with Gingernuts’ Derby rivals and he remains bullish about their three-year-old’s prospects of another Group One trophy.
‘‘I thought Jon Snow was quite impressive last Saturday and he looks like he has improved and Prized Icon also ran very well and he will go in a very fit horse,’’ Richards said. ‘‘But our horse has been racing very well all the way through against good opposition and I couldn’t be any happier with him.’’
Gingernuts is booked on a Monday flight home to New Zealand.
‘‘He’ll need a break and we’d like to set him for Melbourne in the spring,’’ Richards said.
Trent Busuttin is more hopeful than confident of turning the Rosehill Guineas form around.
A fortnight ago, the expatriate Kiwi horseman produced Anaheim to finish fourth and concedes his colt needs to lift to be a realistic winning chance.
‘‘There’s no question that Gingernuts is a good horse and we might need a bit of luck to beat him,’’ he said.
‘‘We are very happy with Anaheim and he will be 100 per cent for this race. I’m sure he will run well, but it won’t be easy to bridge the gap. A good barrier and a drier track would be a help.
‘‘Anaheim would probably get away with a slow track, but the better the track, the better his chances.’’
A son of Fastnet Rock, Anaheim has strong New Zealand ties and was bought at Karaka by Busuttin for a number of Kiwi owners, including Tommy Heptinstall, Kevin O’Brien and Dave Kneebone, who were also partowners of Sangster.