Jon Snow the best of a classic lineup
Cambridge trainer Murray Baker has been keeping a close eye on Auckland’s weather as he put the finishing touches on the team that he and training partner Andrew Forsman will present at Ellerslie today.
The Baker-Forsman partnership dominate the field for the Zabeel Classic (2000m) with four acceptors in the 11-horse line-up.
Former Australian Derby winner Jon Snow will carry the number one saddlecloth in the weightfor-age contest and will be joined by Saint Emilion, Nicoletta and 2017 Zabeel Classic runner-up Lizzie L’Amour.
More than 40mls of rain was predicted in Auckland for the 48-hour period from Sunday but Baker is confident he has his bases covered.
‘‘I think we have horses that can still perform if they got the rain that was predicted,’’ he said.
‘‘We have a couple who will definitely appreciate some cut in the ground and the other two can cope, though it is not their preferred surface.
‘‘We won’t worry too much about it until race morning.’’
While not prepared to rank his runners in any particular order, Baker believes each of them possess the credentials to win the race if luck plays in their favour.
‘‘I think we have a good chance, which is what you want when you are competing at Group One level,’’ he said.
‘‘Jon Snow will certainly appreciate the rain and I think you can just turn the page on his last start at Trentham where he had no luck at all. He missed the start and got caught wide which gave him little chance to feature.
‘‘Lizzie L’Amour has run well in this race before and she was only just beaten over 1600m at Te Rapa last time. She will definitely improve going over 2000m and has won two of her three starts on a slow track.
‘‘Saint Emilion is as honest as they come and he has a great record over 2000m at weight-forage on the track.
‘‘Nicoletta is also in good form and has been placed twice at Group One level, so she deserves a win.’’