Cup cliffhanger as Mark Twain left on the edge
The connections of the plunge horse of the Auckland Cup face a nervous wait to see if he even makes the field after a shock result on Saturday bumped Mark Twain out of the race.
The $500,000 Barfoot And Thompson-sponsored Cup is the signature race of this Saturday’s huge Ellerslie meeting, even though it also hosts two Group 1s — the Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes and the Sistema Stakes for 2-year-olds.
One of the best backed runners for the Cup has been Mark Twain, who has looked a Cup-winner-in-waiting since his late-charging fourth in the New Zealand Derby last year.
But while his Cup preparation was going perfectly, with big finishes and a low Cup weight locked in, Mark Twain now finds himself outside the 18 horses guaranteed a Cup start.
He was leapfrogged by My Maebelline Girl (a mere rating-68 mare) who showed great courage to win the $90,000 Nathans Memorial at Ellerslie on Saturday, which makes her exempt from the ballot for the Cup.
“The Cup wasn’t really on our radar and I had been eyeing up the St Leger at Trentham so we threw her in on Saturday so she didn’t have three weeks between runs before that,” said trainer Kylie Little.
“But now she is in the Cup, I think we will start. I only have four horses in work and I don’t know when I am going to get another chance to have one in a big Cup.
“I’ve never had a starter in one of the big Cups [Auckland, Wellington or New Zealand] and I don’t even think I’ve had a Waikato Cup starter.”
Now she is in the Cup, Little faces the same problem a number of trainer do: finding a senior jockey who can ride the mare at her 52kg lightweight.
Lynsey Satherley rated My Maebelline Girl perfectly to win on Saturday but she is already committed to Cup favourite Asterix after winning the Avondale Cup on him last start.
My Maebelline Girl’s Cup promotion means Mark Twain sits 19th in the order for Cup runners and when the Herald phoned the trainers of almost every horse above him yesterday, they said they all intended to start.
One who is not 100 per cent certain yet is Mehzebeen, with trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson not committing to a start until after she trots up (is examined) today.
To add further confusion to the Cup entry order, Whangaehu — who sits 20th in the order — won at Tauheren¯ıkau yesterday carrying 61kg and in the unlikely event that earns him 5 rating points he would also leapfrog over Mark Twain.
“We didn’t really want to start him today but he we needed the rating points to have any chance to get in the Cup,” trainer Bill Thurlow said after Whangaehu’s win.
“I hope we get five points when he is re-rated and if he starts, we have Lisa Allpress engaged to ride him.”
Strike out
One of New Zealand’s most exciting horses will miss this Saturday and potentially the rest of the racing season.
Move To Strike was a sensational debut winner at Te Rapa on December 16 and was even touted as a possible Blue Diamond colt.
But after a surprise New Year’s Day defeat, he was an expensive failure at Matamata nine days ago and found to have suffered atrial fibrillation, when the heart beats irregularly.
It almost always causes horses to stop dramatically in their races but often the heart quickly returns to its normal rhythm.
But that has not been the case with Move To Strike.
“We have been told to keep him moving rather than spell him to help the heart come back to normal,” says co-trainer Mark Walker. “So he is having a week at the water walker and clearly he won’t be going to the Sistema Stakes this week.”
Walker has joint favourite Captured By Love in the Sistema with Warren Kennedy to ride, as last-start rider Opie Bosson will be in Melbourne to partner Imperatriz in the Newmarket Handicap.