Ray Green looking forward after mess at NZ Cup
That [the uneven New Zealand Cup start] is behind us now and the main thing is the horse took no harm from it. Ray Green Copy That’s trainer
Trainer Ray Green is preferring to look forward rather than back with stable star Copy That.
When the north’s best pacer heads to the Pukekohe workouts tomorrow, Green will be thinking about the Auckland Cup in a month rather than the mess that was his New Zealand Cup two weeks ago.
Copy That was the worst victim of the uneven New Zealand Cup start which saw starter Peter Lamb lose that role at Addington, but not before punters had lost truckloads on Copy That.
There is no guarantee Copy That would have won the Cup even with a good beginning but Green, true to his word before the race, is not dwelling on what happened.
“That is behind us now and the main thing is the horse took no harm from it,” says Green.
Copy That and Green’s superb 3-year-old American Dealer will both have workouts tomorrow before starting their busy December campaigns at Alexandra Park next Friday.
Before then Green takes a small but strong team to northern headquarters tonight with Tommy Lincoln holding the key to a tricky first race.
The four starters have 37 rating points difference between them, which would suggest if On The Cards crosses to the front he should win, but Tommy Lincoln led and defied a similarly-graded Star Galleria here two starts ago and is likely to adopt the same tactics tonight.
“I think he can lead and the small field should suit him because there shouldn’t be any attackers,” says Green.
“So he will go well, he always does, but he might also have a pretty good horse in Christians hav time on his back so it could an interesting race.”
Green will supply the likely favourite Apieceoflou as well as Franco Nandor in race two and the former looks a great winning chance.
“He has a better draw this week than he has had for a while so he has to be a good chance, whereas Franco
Nandor was disappointing last week so I am hoping he improves with the run.”
Green has some potentially crucial
punting advice for punters around Revitalise (R4, No 9).
He looked handy when he first came north but hasn’t raced up to that form in his last three starts. Green expects improvement tonight.
“He had an abscess that has finally come right,” says Green.
“So I think he can go better and while he is no star he is in the right race.”
Tonight’s trotting feature should be treated with caution by punters as the two best horses in the race, Tricky Ric and She Reigns, face 40m back marks which will be extremely hard to overcome over 2200m, especially in a field containing some rivals who will make them chase hard.
Addington also races tonight while tomorrow is Geraldine Cup day in the big grass track in the south.