“My horse is very talented and versatile but everybody knows how good The Cossack is,” says Oulaghan.
“It could come down to who handles the track, or even tactics, but maybe more than anything, it will come down to how much my horse is improving. He seems to be getting better with every start over the big fences and I don’t think he’s finished improving yet.
“To win this week, that might have to be the case, because The Cossack has a wonderful overall record, so I’m hoping my horse reaches a new peak, and if he does, then we can win.”
What looks certain is the pair won’t be too far from each other starting the last mile, as riders Jack Power and Shaun Fannin won’t want to get disconnected and be forced to chase the other, possibly without much help in a race where the pair are clearly faster on the flat than their rivals.
It is hard to imagine one of them won’t win, and while The Cossack wears the crown (more as a hurdler than steeplechaser, admittedly), the Trentham straight at the end of 5500m will have no respect for reputations and the race may be decided by guts and lactic acid build-up.
The Wellington Hurdles see Nedwin try to carry an imposing 71.5kg. But on a track and in conditions he loves, and if he triumphs, Nedwin will start nipping at the heels of the steeplechasing pair for the title of our glamour jumper, so today’s meeting promises some of the best jumps racing of the season so far.
There will be highlights of a different sort at the other end of the North Island where Ruakākā hosts five $60,000 Winter Championship finals on what should be a decent track, rated a soft6 yesterday.
Some of the finals, such as the juvenile and special conditions 1600m (race 2), feel like they have only two or three winning chances, but the staying feature (race 5) and the last race, the R86 over 1400m, have depth and will provide punters with proper challenges.
One of the more interesting horses racing there today isn’t even in the finals, with Slipper Island returning in race six.
He was highly rated as a juvenile last season and it took subsequent Group 1 winner Lickety Split to beat him in a maiden 2-year-old, while this season, he took on some of our better 3-year-olds before suffering an injury in the Bonecrusher Stakes at Pukekohe in December.
Trainer Tony Pike is adamant Slipper Island will improve with today’s outing but he has a class edge on the average winter R65 horse and also gets the services of Michael McNab as he hones in on a massive second jockeys’ premiership win.