By Michael Guerin
Racing's most frustrating game of hide-and-seek could almost be over.
For two years Sharp And Telford has been looking for a place among the greats.
Two years ago he was the man. His 1996 Auckland Cup win was an effort Cardigan Bay or Chokin could have been proud of.
He ignored an early gallop and his now familiar uneven gait to crush his rivals, all as an overgrown 4-year-old still learning how to balance his massive body.
Sharp And Telford had arrived. He was going to be one of the greats. You could just tell.
But then his season ended and the hide-and-seek began.
An injury suffered in that Cup ruled him out of the rest of the season. Greatness sneaked away and hid.
Sharp And Telford finally returned early last season looking ready to fulfil his destiny.
After some strong lead-up efforts the genius of champion driver Tony Herlihy landed him in the one-one in the New Zealand Cup from where he should have paced straight into the history books.
Greatness came out of hiding and waited in the Addington winner's circle for Sharp And Telford.
But the big horse stopped. For the first race in his career he actually stopped.
The leg injury was back and as Iraklis won the Cup, Sharp And Telford crawled back to the spelling paddock, a place where greatness was nowhere to be found.
Trainer Mark Purdon was not about to give up though.
He knew Sharp And Telford was special and if greatness was avoiding the equine mammoth then Purdon was going to join in the hunt.
Hours of swimming and long slow work got Sharp And Telford back to his best before another set-back robbed him of a return trip to Addington for the Cup last month.
Sharp And Telford finally made it back to the track last month with a girth that would send an elephant to weight watchers.
His first two starts showed the heart was still there but the lungs were taking a while to catch up.
But his last start failure in the Summer Cup is best forgotten, with the pattern of the race and a wayward boring pole making his task impossible.
Since then, though, Sharp And Telford has started to feel like a horse who knows what he is looking for.
"His work in the last week has been great," said Purdon yesterday.
"He worked 3:11 for 2400m here the other day and that is about as good as they ever work here.
"His legs are fine and he looks superb. I think he may finally be back to his best."
He will need to be. While Sharp And Telford has been nursing his injuries, getting older and fatter, another horse has found that elusive greatness.
Christian Cullen is already a millionaire, has a stack of records and a nice shiny New Zealand Cup. Greatness simply was not fast enough to run away from him.
But Purdon and Herlihy say the difference between Christian Cul len and Sharp
And Telford is not as vast as their fixed odds prices of $1.45 and $15 would suggest.
"Christian Cullen is a great horse and has done everything asked of him this season," Purdon said.
"But this horse is a wonderful stayer and if he was to find the front I don't think any horse - even Christian Cullen - could sit outside him and beat him."
That is an unusually big call from Purdon but Sharp And Telford has won his way into the young man's heart by picking himself up when he looked down.
Purdon is right. In a race dominated by the arrogant brilliance of Christian Cullen and Holmes D G, Sharp And Telford is the front marker who can reel off the sort of sectionals that will hurt the young guns.
If they give him too much of a start he will make them pay. And Sharp And Telford will join Luxury Liner and Chokin as the only recent dual Auckland Cup winners. He will be remembered as a great horse.
And the game of hide-and-seek will be over.
Pictured: Mark Purdon
Horse Racing: Wait may finally be over
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