Hype horses set to deliver
If ever there was a time to get caught up in the hype, the second Group I of the season is it.
Horses with cult hero followings like Gingernuts and Kawi will always carry plenty of money and most of the time it is justifiable. Kawi is a six-time Group I winner and Gingernuts is a Derby winner but sometimes - when distances, conditions or draws simply do not suit - that support is pure fanfare.
The sizeable support for Kawi in the Foxbridge Plate and the massive plunge that saw Gingernuts drop from $17 to $5 in the Tarzino Trophy are prime examples.
But the inevitable flood of money that will come for the two hype horses in Saturday’s $200,000 Group I Windsor Park Plate at Hastings will come from the head more than the heart. Moving up to the mile on a better track means it is time to jump aboard the hype train.
Kawi was favourite when bookmakers opened their market but Gingernuts has since taken over that mantle.
Gingernuts is into $4 from $4.50 as Kawi has been eased out from $4.30 to $4.50.
Kawi, who won the race last year, was slow away in the Tarzino and was always chasing the field before being held up at the 700m mark and being forced back to the inside but still stuck on to finish fourth on an unsuitable track.
Trainer Allan Sharrock was obviously disappointed not to win the Tarzino Trophy (formally the Makfi Challenge Stakes) for the fourth consecutive time (Kawi 2016, 2015 and I Do 2014) but was left feeling positive about the run.
Sharrock, who is praying there will not be any significant rain before the race at 4.25pm, said so long as the surface is a genuine dead track his stable star has much more in his favour than he did in the Tarzino.
‘‘His coat and his work suggests he will be an improved horse tomorrow,’’ Sharrock said.
He can see Kawi and jockey Jason Waddell being in a handy spot one off the rail and that gives him confidence he can win.
Opie Bosson will be back on board Gingernuts and he is rightly confident that last season’s New Zealand Derby winner can give the race a real shake.
Gingernuts, trained by Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards, flashed home late to finish fifth in the Tarzino but Bosson knows it could have been much better.
He was badly checked at the 400 metre mark and almost knocked off his feet.
‘‘I think he could have run into third. It just stopped all of his momentum,’’ Bosson said.
Ideally, Bosson hopes to settle Gingernuts slightly on the better side of midfield in what shapes as a much more winnable race than Tarzino.
‘‘He’s definitely come on a lot. You can see it in him, his coat’s changed and I think he will be much improved on his last run,’’ Bosson said.
The Hawke’s Bay surface was rated a dead 6 on Friday morning and just a light shower was forecast on Friday evening. A dead 4 or better is being touted.
‘‘It doesn’t matter what the tracks like because we know he can get through anything but a better track would definitely suit him,’’ Bosson said.