Clarify chasing Cup spoils
A change of tack has Awapuni the immediate focus for the in-form stayer Clarify.
Matamata trainer Peter McKay had originally targeted Ellerslie as the Savabeel gelding’s next port of call until the focus switched to Saturday’s Gr.3 Hotel Coachman Manawatu Cup (2100m).
‘‘His work has been exceptional and we were going straight to the Dunstan Feeds Final on New Year’s Day, but I said to (owner) Joe Smithies that we’d have a crack at this race,’’ McKay said.
‘‘He’s down in the weights and the field isn’t that strong.’’
The Dunstan Feeds Championship Final (2200m) on the last day of the Auckland carnival is still on Clarify’s radar, although victory on Saturday would change that.
‘‘He’s raced a week apart before so we can still go to Ellerslie,’’ McKay said.
‘‘If we win though, we’ll take him out of the Dunstan and I wouldn’t be disappointed to be doing that.’’
Clarify won for the fourth time in his career when successful last time out over 2100m at Ellerslie.
McKay will also be represented at Awapuni by Karaka Million (1200m) hope Cassius Clay in the NZ Bakels 2YO Premier (1100m) and the black type performer Barcelo in the Property Brokers Premier (1200m).
The latter showed encouraging form as a three-year-old with a second placing in the Listed Trevor Eagle Memorial (1500m) and a close fifth in the Gr.2 Sarten Memorial (1400m) behind the subsequent Group One winner Ugo Foscolo.
However, Barcelo failed to fire when he returned earlier this season and was turned out after an unplaced effort at Ruakaka in July. ‘‘He went off the boil so we gave him a spell,’’ McKay said. ‘‘He’s come back well and he normally goes well fresh, he’s quite forward.’’
● Meanwhile Group One winner El Soldado continues to keep time at bay with the veteran on target for a return to top level competition.
“He’s coming up well again, he doesn’t know he’s an 11-year-old,” Cambridge trainer and part-owner Phillip Devcich said.
“He’s still the same and it would be great to get him to the Auckland Cup again.”
El Soldado caused a massive upset when he returned a winning divided of $125 in the 2016 edition of the feature.
The Colombia gelding again rocked punters at Ellerslie earlier this year when he paid $69 when adding the Gr.2 Avondale Cup
(2400m) to his record. Devcich will be looking for a good showing from El Soldado in Saturday’s Dunstan Feeds Championship Qualifier (2100m) at Te Rapa to firm up plans to tackle both cups again.