Karaka Millions: Barrier draws for three biggest races revealed

Crocetti winning the 2000 Guineas at Riccarton.

The two glamour gallopers who will determine many punters fate on TAB Karaka Millions night have drawn exactly where they needed to for Saturday’s Ellerslie extravaganza.

But the connections of some of the hotshots in the $1.5 million KM Three-Year-Old and the $1 million juvenile dash for cash will have a bit more head scratching to do.

The barrier draws for the three biggest races were revealed at a function in Auckland with the horses’s draws illuminated against the Sky Tower, bringing an unprecedented taste of horse racing to the central city.

It was a reveal, one befitting the richest race day in New Zealand history, but the actual draws were down as usual on Wednesday morning and kept secret, with betting closed for integrity reasons.

The fields for the first three races were released earlier and threw up the automatic multi anchor for the day when Crocetti drew barrier 3.

The unbeaten 2000 Guineas winner has to carry 60kgs in the $225,000 Cambridge Stud Almanzor Trophy but has drawn ideally for a horse who likes to race handy or lead.

On this new, super fast Ellerslie StrathAyr surface the thought of Crocetti either up against the inside rail with Warren Kennedy setting his own terms is a daunting one for his opponents.

Of course it may not be quite that easy as also unbeaten, but in far easier company, is Merchant Queen, who also likes to lead and has drawn barrier 1.

But Crocetti is a winning machine who punters love so his draw was the final nail in the coffin of getting any value for him on Saturday.

The TAB bookies opened him $1.30 and while that may not entice many final field punters he could be the starting point for well over half the multi bets placed on Saturday’s meeting, using the old “you get an extra 30 per cent for chucking in Crocetti” logic.

So if the big chestnut wins the first bookies will be getting nervous, if he suffers defeat for the first time the majority of multi bets will disappear like tape decks in cars.

The other horse multi punters will gravitate to is wonderful mare Legarto in the $1million Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic, the new four-year-old race over 1600m, and she also looks ideally placed from barrier 7.

Legarto has looked more mature, mentally and physically, this season and can now jump and put herself handy if needed but she still seems most potent when she settles then unleashes.

Barrier 7 lends itself to which ever of those tactic Ryan Elliot wants to employ in a race that should have good tempo.

One of the surprises of the Aotearoa Classic is outstanding Australian jockey Mark Zahra having his first ride on Sharp N Smart (barrier 2) while he will also partner Pendragon in the three-year-old and Savaglee in the juvenile for the Moroney/Gerard stable.

At a meeting where James McDonald, Blake Shinn and Robbie Dolan will bring high Australian exposure, Zahra’s late confirmation is more good news for what is shaping as one of New Zealand’s biggest racing events in decades.

The two-year-old race has a gloriously confusing feel to it with all three favourites, Velocious (7), Bellatrix Star (6) and Cool N Fast (4) drawn together, set to move in one spot each if the ballot comes out.

The three-year-old race sees Pendragon (4) drawn to lead raising the $1.5million question of whether second favourite Orchestral can trail from barrier 1, while Molly Bloom is drawn 10 so will almost certainly have to employ the swooping tactics that have become her trademark.

The TAB re-opened markets for all six races last night. The first race on Saturday jumps at 4.19pm.

FIELDS FOR THE RICHEST RACES ON TAB KARAKA MILLIONS NIGHT AT ELLERSLIE ON SATURDAY

Race 4, 6.04pm: TAB KARAKA MILLIONS 2-Y-O

$1milllion, 1200m

1: Beau Dazzler (barrier 14)

2: So Naive (8)

3: Poetic Champion (15)

4: Cool N Fast (4)

5: Savaglee (2)

6: Maracatu (11)

7: When Stars Align (9)

8: Full Force (12)

9: Force Of Law (5)

10: Bellatrix Star (6)

11: Velocious (7)

12: Sunrise (13)

13: Macaluso (10)

14: Hard Attack (3)

15: Damask Rose (1) (em)

Race 5, 6.44pm: ELSDON PARK AOTEAROA CLASSIC

$1million, 1600m

1: Sharp N Smart (2)

2: Desert Lightning (10)

3: Sacred Satono (4)

4: Wild Night (1)

5: Holymanz (11)

6: Arby (8)

7: Cognito (3)

8: Accidental Tourist (6)

9: Rudyard (5)

10: Channel Surfer (13)

11: Sir Sterling (12)

12: Legarto (7)

13: Wessex (9)

Race 6, 7.24pm: TAB KARAKA MILLIONS 3-Y-O

$1.5million, 1600m

1: Pendragon (4)

2: Tokyo Tycoon (3)

3: Talisker (8)

4: To Catch A Thief (7)

5: Lupo Solitario (12)

6: Just As Sharp (14)

7: Geriatrix (6)

8: The Weapon (2)

9: Royal Destroyer (13)

10: Molly Bloom (10)

11: Impendabelle (9)

12: Orchestral (1)

13: Ethereal Star (15)

14: Glamour Tycoon (11)

15: Grande Gallo (5)

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.