By Peter Jessup
Trainer Neville McBurney has been in Australia long enough to qualify as an enemy invader.
He dresses like one, the Ngaruawahia drawl carries an Aussie twang and he declares himself happy after 14 years at Wyong on the coast north of Sydney and unlikely to move.
McBurney is here for the Auckland Cup and reckons his runner Madjic has the goods to take the race to what he considers is an easier field than has been the case for a few years.
Madjic fronts up after a fast-finishing second in the Christmas Cup (2400m) at Rosehill in mid-December, further indication he is a good 3200m prospect despite not having tackled the distance, McBurney believes.
"He's fit enough, he'll get the two miles all right but whether he's good enough to win it, we'll see," he said.
That's Aussie-speak for "We wouldn't be here if we didn't think he was in with a good chance."
McBurney has made a habit of training winning stayers.
He has saddled up the winners of two Brisbane Cups - Lord Hybrow in 1988 and Praise Indeed this year - plus two seconds in that race, and a second in the Tancred Stakes to prove his ability.
His big ambition is to take a Melbourne Cup but the Auckland equivalent will do while he works on Madjic and looks for other opportunities.
"The horse is ready at the right time, he's part-owned here," McBurney said.
He's not a top horse" - more Aussie-speak for `we don't want to talk his chances up and his odds down' - "but we were influenced by the quality of the field.
"He's matured, he's done everything I've asked of him work-wise."
He sees the 6-year-old gelding as one of 10 winning possibilities in the Cup field and will be asking jockey Chris Munce to keep Madjic handy.
"I've watched a few videos [of the Auckland Cup] and not too many come from the back to win."
Born and raised in Waikato horse country and from a family with plenty of interest in the industry, he worked for 15 years on various stud farms before heading to Australia and Wyong in 1984 with trainer Brian Smith.
He took over the Wyong operation when Smith moved to Sydney two years later and is first to admit the lucky country has been kind to him.
"I had some good early winners. It hasn't been a hard life there," he said of his home surrounded by beaches and close to the Hawkes bury track.
Back home he has made use of old connections and has had help from his brother Graham for the past two weeks while Madjic has been stabled at the Te Rapa track.
The horse, owned by Cambridge vet Ian Mackay, Mackay's brother-in-law Kevin Kurtz and Aussie Vince Pesa, had his last serious Cup hit-out yesterday, running
800m in 55 seconds, the final 600m in 39.6.
By Deputy Governor out of Country Touch, Madjic has a stayer's pedigree and McBurney predicts he will be even better next year when he has some experience at two miles behind him.
Yesterday McBurney was checking the track at Ellerslie, happy the sprinklers had been on to keep the track short of rock-hard.
Chris Munce flies in today on the back of a great year's riding that brought him a Melbourne Cup to add to a long run of winners.
He will be looking to better last year's second in the Auckland Cup when Aerosmith ran second to Jezabeel, his subsequent winning Melbourne Cup ride.
McBurney hopes their last collaboration, a win with Full Pelt at Hawksebury last week, is an omen of good things to come tomorrow.
Pictured: Neville McBurney, back on New Zealand turf. HERALD PICTURE / MARTIN SYKES
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