Du Plessis to bound back
MARK DU PLESSIS should be back where he belongs today.
The northern jockey had a quiet start to Auckland Cup week but punters are convinced he will return to the limelight on the final day.
Du Plessis is the leading rider for the season in terms of stake earnings, black-type races and premier meetings but is winless after 18 mounts at Ellerslie this week.
However, only two of those rides started favourite and there have been several minor placings, including a third in the New Zealand Derby and two fourths in Group III races.
In addition, he has his best book for the week today and his three leading prospects – Bounding, Vespa and Albany Reunion – have been the best-backed runners on the Ellerslie programme.
The trio headed their markets when final field betting opened and weight of money has meant both Vespa and Bounding have shortened further.
Bounding is a $1.80 favourite for the $70,000 Group III Mr Tiz Trophy (1200m), after opening at $1.90, while Vespa has shortened from $3 to $2.60 for the $200,000 Group I Diamond Stakes (1200m).
Telegraph Handicap placegetter Albany Reunion is a $3 favourite for the rating 85 1400m and has been heavily backed at his opening price.
The support for Du Plessis’ rides has included a $15,000 Vespa-Bounding double, to return $85,500, and a $3000 bet on Vespa at $3.
Vespa, who is trained at Otaki by Johno Benner, has had three wins and two placings from five starts and another win today would cement his claims to be rated New Zealand’s top juvenile.
He has shown a liking for Ellerslie with his two starts there producing a luckless third in the Group III Eclipse Stakes and a decisive win in the Karaka Million.
“He’s done everything that has been asked of him,” Du Plessis said. “He was badly interfered with in the Eclipse and probably should have won that as well.”
Vespa coped with a slow track in the Karaka Million but Du Plessis is not looking for a wet track today.
“It [a slow track] obviously didn’t hinder him but I’m not sure that it helped him either. I think he’s better on the top of the ground.”
Benner and Vespa’s owners, Chris Rutten and John Norwood, began the weekend well with King’s Secret winning the juvenile 800m at Otaki yesterday.
Rutten paid $34,000 for Vespa, who has already earned $577,000,
He was badly interfered with in the Eclipse and probably should have won that as well.
Mark Du Plessis
and bought King’s Secret, an Indy King colt, for $12,000.
Albany Reunion, the runner-up to So Wotif in the Mr Tiz Trophy 12 months ago, looks well placed back in restricted company, albeit with 58kg.
He was a close third in the listed Newmarket Handicap at Ellerslie on Boxing Day, after clipping heels at the 1000m, and then finished fourth, beaten less than two lengths, in the Group I Telegraph (1200m) at Trentham.
He has done most of his racing at Ellerslie and is from a form stable, with his trainer, Nigel Tiley, recording two wins and a second from three runners at the meeting.
Tiley will also run Belial and Nordic Knight today and there was strong support yesterday for the lightly-raced Belial in the rating 75 1200m.
Bounding warrants being at short odds for the Mr Tiz, which will be her first race since beating Waterford and Little Wonder in the Group I Railway Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie on January 1.
The Lonhro filly has had four wins and a luckless second in the One Thousand Guineas from five starts this term.
A bruised foot prevented her racing in the NRM Sprint at Te Rapa last month but she has had a trial since and has sufficient speed to overcome a wide barrier.
“The draw could be a bit awkward and there looks to be a lot of speed inside her,” Bounding’s trainer, Ken Kelso, said. “But we are very happy with her and I thought her trial at Matamata the other day was exceptional.”
If Bounding wins well today, there is a chance she will aimed at the A$500,000 Royal Sovereign Stakes (1200m), the richest Group II race at the Sydney carnival, at Randwick on April 19.
The Royal Sovereign, a threeyear-old race run at set weights, is a week after the A$2.5 million weight-for-age T J Smith Stakes (1200m), which is likely to attract the glamour three-year-olds such as Zoustar.
“There isn’t much else for her [Bounding] here and the Royal Sovereign could be a nice option,” Kelso said.
Kelso might have two runners at Randwick that day, with Xanadu a chance to tackle the A$1 million Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m).
Auckland Cup winner Who Shot Thebarman has been rehandicapped 2kg, to 54kg, for the Sydney Cup on April 19.