Wanganui results no true guide at Ellerslie

Trainers John Sargent and Stephen McKee are suggesting the Wanganui Guineas may not be the best guide to tomorrow's $45,000 Just Juice Bonecrusher Stakes at Ellerslie.

The McKee-trained Fieldofdreams finished third at Wanganui and Dollario fifth and both trainers feel the effort was better than the placing suggests.

Sargent feels the fact Dollario was caught on the inside, where the footing was clearly inferior, badly affected him.

"The winner [Whoshe] was going better than he was and prevented him getting out wider on the track where the best footing was. It probably kept him from running a place."

Dollario finished well away from the placings in the Foxbridge Plate behind Fritzy Boy, so a tender 3-year-old can be excused against such tough company in the first two weeks of the season.

He looks better placed against his own age group here.

Whoshe also beat Dollario at Ellerslie on May 28, but the grey filly is this time engaged for the Soliloquy Stakes on tomorrow's programme.

"He's done well since Wanganui and he's on the top of his game," said Sargent of Dollario.

McKee feels Fieldofdreams did too many things wrong at Wanganui. "He got a bit of a dig early in the race and it got him going too strongly.

"He got taken on by another horse and they cut each other's throats. Then he wobbled around the home bend.

"Given all that, I feel he battled on very well for third. I wasn't disappointed in the run."

McKee is also delighted Whoshe is running against her own sex this time.

"I'm happy with my horse and I think he'll be somewhere in it."

Jonathan Riddell made an interesting observation after Fort Lincoln was soundly beaten in the Wanganui Guineas.

"I feel he could be better the right-handed way around," said Riddell when asked by stewards what went wrong.

Fort Lincoln was 10 lengths away 12th. He makes the transition to right-handed tomorrow and would not have to do much better than his attack on Ellerslie's Karaka Million, which he won with a late charge.

It's a long way up to a listed stakes race from maidens, but Vincent Street made a big impression dashing home late to quit the duffer class last start.

He had had only a couple of prep runs before that so it makes sense that he will improve with racing.

A Cool Change is still a maiden, but he split Whoshe and Dollario at Ellerslie, so has some claims.