Elusive Derby win on cards

MONGOLIAN KHAN might enable trainer Murray Baker and rider Opie Bosson to conquer new territory this month.

Baker and Bosson have long been at the top of their professions but neither has won a New Zealand Derby.

That might change when Mongolian Khan tackles the $750,000 Derby (2400m) at Ellerslie on February 28.

The Chinese-owned colt made it four wins from five attempts with a convincing victory in the Group II Waikato Guineas (2000m) at Te Rapa on Saturday.

He is now a $5 second favourite for the Derby. Volkstok’n’barrell, who has won five from six, is a $2.50 favourite, with no other horse at single-figure odds.

Mongolian Khan and Volkstok’n’barrell will meet for the first time in the Avondale Guineas (2100m), at Ellerslie on February 14.

The Derby is the only major New Zealand race to have eluded Bosson. He has won the New Zealand Oaks four times and the Two Thousand Guineas six times but his best result from 12 Derby mounts has been a third on Castlzeberg, two years ago.

Bosson, 34, has also won the Victoria Oaks in Melbourne and has a career tally of 46 Group I wins.

He had not won the Waikato Guineas before Saturday and was having his first ride on Mongolian Khan but will retain the mount for the Avondale Guineas and Derby.

Derby wins are rare triumphs for any trainer but what is unusual in Baker’s case, is that he has been more successful in Australia than at home.

Baker has had two wins and a second in the Australian Derby and has won the Victoria Derby, while his list of three-year-old wins in Australia also includes the Rosehill Guineas, Randwick Guineas, Spring Champion Stakes and Tulloch Stakes (three times).

“Nom du Jeu ran fourth in the [New Zealand] Derby but I haven’t had that many runners,” Baker said yesterday.

“We often missed the Derby here to concentrate on Australia.”

Mongolian Khan, a son of the Danehill horse Holy Roman Emperor, paid $42.20 when winning a Te Rapa maiden on debut and paid $19.90 when winning a rating 65 1600m at Ellerslie two starts later, but neither win surprised his connections.

“He’s a magnificent looking horse and we have always liked him,” Baker said. “He got back [when unplaced] in the Hawke’s Bay Guineas but otherwise he couldn’t have done much more than he has.

“He showed that he had a good turn of foot when he beat a strong rating 65 field at Ellerslie. It’s not easy for the three-year-olds to beat the older horses and he bolted away. He’s a colt and had a lot of nervous energy and we have spent a lot of time working him in company [at the Cambridge track]. He’s getting a lot more relaxed and every time he’s gone to the races, he’s been better.

“He hadn’t raced for seven weeks and it was a good effort yesterday. I think he’s a good colt and he’s going to improve with the race. His pedigree might suggest that he would be better at 2000m [than 2400m] but he gets his head down and races like a real stayer.”

The Waikato Guineas win was the high point of another outstanding day for Baker and his training partner Andrew Forsman.

The partnership also won the Hamilton Cup (2000m) with Show The World and the rating 75 1600m with Victor Hugo at Te Rapa and Elusive Gold, their only unplaced