"Everything has fallen into place for him," Cambridge trainer Chris Wood said.
"He will probably drop back to a mile at Te Rapa next, on Labour Monday, and then we'll make our way down for the cup.
"He's a real stable favourite and Viktoria has had a great run on him and will have the ride in the New Zealand Cup."
Gatu has ridden Pacorus in all but one of his seven wins. She missed his maiden victory but has been aboard him in every success since. The New Zealand Cup will be her first ride in a major 3200-metre race.
Pacorus won't lack for support in his cup bid with his large owner contingent of Dave and Jenny Morison, John Borich, Tony Craig, Ian Goodlet, Ken Green, Neville Jamieson, John Morgan, Trevor Palmer and Tim Vince likely to be joined by family and friends at Riccarton on November 12.
Bargain buy wins again
Missy Moo, a horse that cost her Hawke's Bay owners Mike and Bronwyn Griffin just $500 as a 2-year-old, picked up her second win for the couple when taking out a Rating 65 race over 1400 metres at Tauherenikau on Thursday of last week.
The Griffins farm a property about halfway between Havelock North and Waimarama and are the parents of Greg Griffin who, along with wife Jo, operates Lime Country Thoroughbreds on Taihape Rd.
Mike Griffin attended a Karaka mixed bloodstock sale in May 2014 with the sole intention of buying a broodmare, but had also put a mark in his catalogue alongside a Per Incanto 2-year-old out of Royal Rhythm as a prospective purchase.
He saw that she had been broken in and was being sold because her owner-breeder had wanted to race her but had died.
Griffin forgot about the filly and was just watching proceedings when she came into the sale ring and nobody seemed to want her. He couldn't believe it when he was able to pick her up for just $500.
The Griffins put her into work with the Hastings husband-and-wife training partnership of Sue Thompson and Mick Brown and named her Missy Moo, with Mike Griffin saying she is a filly with a determined streak about her.
Missy Moo made her race debut over 1100 metres at Hastings in April last year and showed she had ability by disputing the pace until the last 200 metres before weakening to finish sixth.
She was then spelled over the winter to strengthen and resumed with a ninth over 1200 metres on the first day of the Hawke's Bay spring carnival on August 29.
Missy Moo then went to Wanganui and turned in a huge performance to win over 1200 metres, coming from last on the home turn to score by half a length.
The mare's form then tapered off and the Griffins transferred her to the stable of Wanganui trainer Fraser Auret earlier this year.
Auret gave the mare a 1000-metre trial at Foxton last month, which she won, and last Thursday's race was her first from her new stable.
Although Missy Moo is the first winner from nine living foals produced by the Rhythm mare Royal Rhythm she certainly boasts outstanding bloodlines further back in her pedigree.
Her second dam is the unraced Sir Tristram mare Her Destiny, who is a full-sister to the 1982 Caulfield and Melbourne Cup winner Gurner's Lane and a full-sister to the VRC Derby winner and successful sire Sovereign Red. It is also the family of Foxwood, winner of the Group 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas at Riccarton.
Win was justified
Justice Well added to an exceptional record accumulated by former Hawke's Bay-owned broodmare Out On Bail when he broke through for a maiden win at last Sunday's Winton meeting.
The Per Incanto 4-year-old became the sixth individual winner produced by the Justice Prevails mare and, between the six, they have won 31 races.
Out On Bail, who had to be put down earlier this year aged 21, was owned by her Central Hawke's Bay breeder Sue Harty and recorded three wins, three seconds and three thirds from 24 starts on the racetrack. But it is as a broodmare that she has really been a star.
Her first foal was Ocean Storm (by Istidaad) who won four races. The next three live foals out of the mare were all by Towkay, the first of them being Parole, who won eight races, followed by Acquit (10 wins) and Surf Patrol (7 wins).
Legal Aid, by Colombia, was the next foal out of the mare to race and was a winner and there has been one other foal to race besides Justice Well but that has been unplaced.
Harty bred Justice Well and sold the horse as a 2-year-old, after he had been broken in.
He is now owned by a South Island syndicate that includes two of Harty's friends, Mark and Dawn Dowling, and is trained by Steven Prince at Wingatui.
Harty said this week that Justice Well was always a very big horse and has needed time to mature.
"He's still growing now and that's why he has only had five starts. He was turned out for quite a while but then he won a jumpout before his win last Sunday," she said.
Out On Bail produced two more foals after Justice Well and both were colts by Per Incanto.
The first one was sold as a weanling and showed promise when put into work with Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh but collapsed and died suddenly when working on a training track.
Harty still retains the other Per Incanto colt, which is now a yearling and is likely to be offered at next January's Karaka sales.
Harty, who has been one of Hawke's Bay's most successful thoroughbred breeders for many years, is now winding down her operation. She presently has two other yearling fillies on her property, one by Niagara out of Sea Shells and the other by Towkay out of Pacific Heights.
"They are both for sale too but not too many people want to buy fillies," she added.
Harty is also the breeder and part-owner of the top jumper Sea King, who is back on her property recuperating from a serious injury he suffered when racing in Australia during the winter.
The 10-year-old won two A$100,000 steeplechases, at Warrnambool on July 10 and Bendigo on July 24, but then suffered a nasty gash to his chest during the running of the Crisp Steeplechase at Sandown in August, in a bizarre incident. A horse in front of him cannoned into the running rail and dislodged a section which sprung back and speared Sea King.
Harty said the wound was about the size of a human fist. It required several stitches and is likely to take several months to properly heal.
Sea King was named joint winner of the title of Champion Jumper of the Year at this year's national racing awards function in Auckland, which was held just hours after the dramatic incident at Sandown.
Makfi sold to Japan
Makfi is serving his last book of mares at Westbury Stud this season following his sale to Japan.
The Group One winner, who has produced classic winners from his first crops in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, has been purchased by the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders' Association.
"Makfi has a number of exciting prospects sitting in the wings and there is no doubt his presence in this part of the world will continue for many a year to come after standing for six seasons at Westbury, providing breeders access to a world-class son of the great Dubawi," Westbury Stud general manager Russell Warwick said.
His leading New Zealand representatives include the Group 1 Australian Oaks winner Sofia Rosa and the Group 1 Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes winner Marky Mark.
The first stallion purchased by Qatar Bloodstock, Makfi stood his first two Northern Hemisphere seasons in France but will now stand at stud in Japan.
Westbury Stud sponsors the first leg of the Group 1 triple crown at the Hawke's Bay spring carnival, with the 1400-metre weight-for-age race known as the Makfi Challenge Stakes.
Blinkers off Sacred Elixir
The blinkers are expected to be removed from Sacred Elixir in his final lead-up to the Group 1 VRC Derby.
The Tony Pike-trained 3-year-old raced keenly when unplaced in last Saturday's Group 1 Caulfield Guineas, prompting the possible change for the Group 2 AAMI Vase at Moonee Valley tomorrow week.
"A couple of things went against him," jockey Damien Lane said. "He travelled a touch keen and they sprinted really hard on the bend and he got a bit unbalanced but all in all, he's probably looking for a touch further now."
