Filly has soggy path to big dance
Gibbs/Logan colt Endowment can handle the wet
The unseasonal drenching Ellerslie has copped ahead of Saturday’s Avondale Guineas may not have been what trainer Chris Gibbs wanted but it has strengthened the second string to his bow.
Gibbs and now Singapore-based training partner Donna Logan take Danzdanzdance and Endowment to the $100,000 three-year-old feature, the final major lead-up to the Vodafone NZ Derby on the same track on March 3.
Danzdanzdance has emerged from obscurity just six weeks ago to be the $8 fourth favourite for the Derby, courtesy of a big maiden win at Ruakaka but more so flying home for sixth in the Karaka Classic.
She looks every inch a Derby filly and has been set that target rather than the NZ Oaks at Trentham but like so many horses heading toward the Derby her path now runs through a likely heavy track at Ellerslie on Saturday.
Gibbs admits that isn’t exactly what he wanted but it comes with a potential bonus in that it might aid stablemate Endowment.
“It has been brutal the weather this week, even up here [Ruakaka],” says Gibbs.
“But most trainers are in the same boat and she [Danzdanzdance] has to go around on Saturday because she needs the run before the Derby.
“I don’t think it is ideal for her but she has galloped okay in it and a lot of the stock of Mastercraftsman handle it. But it definitely dents the confidence and makes this week a bit more unknown.
“In saying that I think it aids our other horse Endowment. We know he can handle the wet because he led and it took Demonetization to run him down in the Auckland Guineas on New Year’s Day.
“The filly can be a little sharp for him in work but when they work together in the wet it evens things up.”
Gibbs says Danzdanzdance can race far more forward on Saturday than she did in the Karaka Classic, although she is drawn very wide, something which may prove an ad- vantage late in the day on a wet track.
“She led when she won her maiden over 1400m so she has the speed to be handy.”
While any time you see barrier 18 next to a horse’s name it hardly breeds confidence. Danzdanzdance would come into 12 on Saturday if the emergencies come out and will have the other favourites close by as Scott Base and Mission Hill have also drawn wide.
Scott Base is not only the clear favourite for the Derby but the $3.40 top pick for Saturday’s Guineas, with his maiden win on a heavy track suggesting Auckland’s week of rain will bother him less than most. The bookies have opened Danzdanzdance a $10 shot for Saturday.
Meanwhile, the chances of serious Australian representation in the Derby appear to be growing, with Ellerslie officials confident Victorian galloper Civil Disobedience will cross the Tasman for the classic.
He bolted away with last Friday’s Tasmanian Derby and his connections have since been in touch about the Derby and even the possibility of galloping on Ellerslie’s course proper in the lead-up to the great race, which has become an annual event anyway for Derby aspirants who want a sighter around the righthanded track.
As long as $61 in the Derby market just a month ago, Civil Disobedience would add plenty of Australian interest to the race being trained by their champion trainer Darren Weir.