By Mike Dillon
It is not all doom and gloom for New Zealand racegoers.
While plenty of our track stars will be chasing the mega dollars in Australia this spring, two of the country's best gallopers, Derby winners So Casual and Showella, will be kept exclusively to New Zealand for their spring and summer racing.
Their respective trainers, Ross Taylor and Frank Ritchie, feel throwing their stable stars into Australian weight-for-age class as early 4-year-olds would undermine their long term potential.
The talented pair will add terrific strength to our summer weight-for-age racing.
Showella may have beaten the Australian 3-year-olds out of sight in the $A250,000 South Australian Derby in May, but Ritchie still sees her as an untapped baby.
Showella was only three starts out of maidens when she took group one status in Adelaide.
"When you start out as a maiden and work your way through the grades, that's fine, but when you make that jump in only three starts they have to adjust over time," he said.
"If I throw her to the wolves against the best in the spring it would be just too tough for her. In fact, if she was to have a tough spring, she'd never come back from it.
"By the autumn she'll be ready to take on something better."
The Kings Plate (1600m) and 2000m JRA Classic at the Auckland Cup carnival are targets for Showella and So Casual.
So Casual may have been our outstanding male 3-year-old this season with wins in the New Zealand Derby and Hawke's Bay Guineas, but Taylor has always been wary of big expectations of his star at four.
"You often see a good 3-year-old, who has raced at level weights against his own age group, struggle when they're put up against older, tougher opposition as 4-year-olds. It's a tough transition."
Taylor says So Casual's first look at the big time across the Tasman would not come before the Australian Cup at Flemington.
We're not going to see much of galloping machine Sunline here next season, but trainer Trevor McKee hasn't ruled out the possibility of her beginning a multi-million dollar campaign in New Zealand.
"I won't know until the spring racing programmes for Sydney and Melbourne are released next week," said McKee.
"If there is nothing suitable to her programme there the alternative is to race her in the Foxbridge Plate at Te Rapa or in the 1400m weight-for-age race at Hastings."
That will give local racing fans first chance to judge how the early favourite for this year's Cox Plate is shaping up as well as providing at least one New Zealand racing club with a promoter's dream.
If the betting three weeks ago was even money each way on the McKees versus Rogerson/Hawtin battle for the trainers' premiership, the McKees must have shortened in to a $1.25 chance.
With four weeks to go the McKees are suddenly five wins clear with no suggestion of a slow-down.
Trevor McKee believes the stable has a strong chance to pick up another three wins in the next four days.
"Blue Eagle and Soroya are strong chances at Te Rapa [today] and Zaitan should be hard to beat at Avondale on Saturday. He won easily at Te Rapa last start and was unlucky several times before that."
In the remaining three weeks McKee is looking to Merlion, Southern Hills, Petanque and Clay Magic to pick up further victories.
Horse Racing: Superstars to shine at home
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