Stars align for Cambridge trainer’s New Zealand Cup bid
He couldn’t be in better order, we have the best jockey and a good draw and he is a proven 3200m horse.
Stephen Marsh
Trainer Stephen Marsh says Starrybeel ticks all the boxes to become a New Zealand Cup winner at Riccarton today.
The Cambridge veteran will start around a $4 favourite in the $300,000 climax to Cup week in Christchurch and Marsh can’t believe how well his preparation has gone.
“It has been close to perfect,” he told the Weekend Herald. “He has been set for this race all along and has progressed the right way with every lead-up run.
“He couldn’t be in better order, we have the best jockey and a good draw and he’s a proven 3200m horse. So he ticks all the boxes and has to be the one to beat.”
Perhaps the biggest concern for punters who dig a bit deeper will be Starrybeel’s strike rate of just six wins in 45 starts but that isn’t uncommon for New Zealand Cup-type stayers who lack the speed to be competitive in shorter races, and Starrybeel has a great cups record.
He finished second in both the Waikato and Wellington Cups last season, fourth in the City Of Auckland Cup and sixth in the Auckland Cup.
Today he has the services of Michael McNab, who won the most black type races in New Zealand last season and, with Opie Bosson suspended, is a clear standout as the best big-race rider in the country.
His skills will be tested in today’s other major race, the 1000 Guineas, because while McNab rides a smart filly in One Kiss, she meets a potential star in Legarto.
Legarto’s last start win in the Soliloquy Stakes at Te Rapa was one of the most impressive early season victories by a 3-year-old filly in recent years, and she should be ideally suited for the big Riccarton track, so it is hard to bet against her.
Also well suited today is Lincoln’s Kruz in the $120,000 Stewards Stakes, because while he was dynamic winning the Pegasus last Saturday, he hasn’t gone up in the weights, so only carries 53kg. He will go close if he performs to the same level again.
Riccarton isn’t the only domestic thoroughbred meeting boasting black type racing today, with the $120,000 Gartshore Tauranga Stakes at Group 1, where once again Marsh has a leading contender in Vernanme.
He doesn’t win out of turn but is well suited by the weight-for-all scale today and jockey Wiremu Pinn is in career-best form.
Sensational Son
Sundees Son won his third Dominion Trot on end in one of the great modern day harness races at Addington yesterday.
The wonderful trotter needed all of his champion qualities to claw his way back past Muscle Mountain after the much bigger horse had clearly headed him up the passing lane in the $300,000 Group 1.
It capped a stunning race, with Muscle Mountain’s driver Ben Hope stealing tactical advantage with a lightning early move to wrest the lead and initially park Sundees Son before the latter attacked again to get to the front with 1700m to run.
That left Sundees Son a target at the top of the straight but he demonstrated phenomenal courage, straining every fibre of his little frame to pull back in front in the last 20m, edging even further up the honour roll of our greatest trotters.
The drama continued in the other Group 1 open class race when Self Assured came from last to win the New Zealand Free-For-All, grabbing Majestic Cruiser right on the line, with Old Town Road a massive third in a race set up for the swoopers.
It was Self Assured’s first win of this campaign and yet another major pacing race which he added to a New Zealand Cup, two Auckland Cups and the inaugural Race by Grins.