Mike Dillon looks at the chances of front-running Just Call Me Sir in today's Derby at Ellerslie, and of his gutsy rider, Trudy Collett.
Trudy Collett is up for her lifetime goal this afternoon - to win the Derby at Ellerslie.
She'll be on the leader in New Zealand's premier classic, Just Call Me Sir, who is going to have to reach to the depths of unimaginable toughness.
But that's okay, because he's got it and so has his rider. Euphemistically, Trudy Collett is not afraid to "ask" a horse in a race.
She'll be asking Just Call Me Sir when the challenges come in the final 350m today, but she won't ask for anything she wouldn't give herself.
When racing administrators stubbornly held out against licensing woman apprentices in the early 1970s because they claimed they weren't strong enough, they hadn't heard of Trudy Collett.
Racing boot to boot for hundreds of thousands of dollars is one of the toughest games in town and the Matamata mother of two has never been known to flinch.
For all the world she looked concussed when she took a heavy fall on a premier raceday at Hastings in late August. That's a mandatory stand-down, but Collett had good rides later in the day and declared she only had her eyes closed when the ambulance arrived.
Returning to the weighing room she stormed up to chief stipendiary steward Noel McCutcheon and said: "If I'm stood down there'll be trouble."
With a smile she was directed to the course doctor, who had the final say, and after several noisy minutes in the sick bay he clearly took the line of least resistance.
Collett resumed riding and booted home Covered N' Grey to finish third to Batavian and Tycoon Lil in the $50,000 Mudgway Stakes.
"Yeh, I push hard and take what comes," said Collett and she prepared for Christmas Day with the two daughters she had with now estranged husband, topline jockey Jim Collett, Samantha (9) and 5-year-old Jessica.
She admits it's only the grief she would get from her friends over the danger and the thought of her daughters that stops her from stepping back into the toughest game of all - riding over jumps.
From the start of her career Collett's goal has been to win the Derby and the Auckland Cup.
"I've come frustratingly close in both. I rode Corndale to finish second to Surfers Paradise in the Derby in 1990 and I finished second to Jim on Shugar in the Cup."
This time she has her best Derby chance since Corndale. Just Call Me Sir is a natural leader who fights until he drops.
They appeared to come close to running him down when he won the 2000m Avondale Guineas last start, but don't be fooled into thinking the extra 400m this time will automatically stop him.
His last four strides at Avondale were just about his strongest. "Yes, he's a tough horse to get past," says Collett.
"He doesn't dig in until you really ask him. He's a very intelligent horse, he knows when they're coming at him and he's happy to let them get up to him, but he doesn't like letting them past."
If you re-watch the finish of his group one Kelt Capital Stakes victory at Hastings, he looked certain to be run down at the 150m, but in the closing strides the opposition, which was pushing close, was never going to get past.
The fact that the Derby is at Ellerslie, rather than the 2400m distance, will make it harder for Just Call Me Sir when the likes of So Casual and Damien Oliver and Nahayan and Peter Johnson come calling. Just Call Me Sir, the $4.25 second favourite behind So Casual in early betting, will lead round the home turn this afternoon and he'll probably still be in front at the 200m.
If you've got your Christmas money on him, know at that point you'll have a couple of real tough characters working hard on your case.
Pictured: Trudy Collett
Horse racing: Collett's wish
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