“He won well here [Victoria] two starts ago, then we sent him to Sydney for a race to see him right-handed and things didn’t go to plan.
“So Chris [Waller, trainer] will see how he works probably tomorrow [Wednesday], and if we are all happy, then he will probably go in our slot.”
Kheir admits he is leaving his slot selection late, but he has “one or two others we are chatting to” on both sides of the Tasman to fill his partnership’s slot if the team don’t like the signs from Climb The Ladder when he works.
The 13th and penultimate slot was filled when Cambridge Stud selected First Dance on Monday, giving the filly they own a shot at the title and its future broodmare worth rather than looking outside.
Punters are now left with an intriguing first running of the NZB Kiwi with such disparate form lines, questions over travel, the right-handed track and where horses lie even within their own stable pecking orders.
Evaporate is the clear favourite for the NZB Kiwi and has Mick Dee engaged to ride, but even Dee admits he isn’t sure how the high-class galloper will perform right-handed.
Those questions will be answered on at least some level when the Hayes-trained gelding has a track gallop at Ellerslie on Monday morning as the club opens the track up to all Champions Day contenders from 7.30am.
Evaporate will have to carry the 59kg topweight to win the NZB Kiwi, which is being run under set weights and penalty conditions.
That is not as bad as it sounds, though, as all the males in the race will carry at least 58kg, with the fillies ranging from 56.5kg to 55kg.
NZB Kiwi second favourite and Karaka Millions Three-Year-Old winner Damask Rose comes in best at the weights, carrying 56.5kg, and will trial at Taupō on Wednesday afternoon (2.10pm). Blake Shinn is confirmed to ride her in the Kiwi.
Shinn will also partner unbeaten colt Return To Conquer in the Sistema Stakes on Champions Day, with Michael McNab to ride stablemate La Dorada in that Group 1 for the juveniles.
Perfumist will have her last serious gallop for trainer Bjorn Baker in Sydney on Saturday before she flies to Auckland on Sunday, while last Saturday’s racing at Ellerslie raised questions regarding which is the best chance of Wexford stable’s four reps in the race.
Trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott’s stable started the NZB Kiwi slots rolling when Sought After was named back in October, and they have since had Checkmate, Sethito and, on Saturday, the filly Hankee Alpha named for the race, the latter in the Auckland Thoroughbred Racing slot.
Three of them raced last Saturday in the Uncle Remus Stakes, and while Sethito won, the TAB market still favours Checkmate, who finished fourth.
Sought After is one of five horses who will gallop at Ellerslie on Thursday morning, and will be ridden by Rory Hutchings in the NZB Kiwi.
“He goes well fresh, so he is on target with Rory riding,” says co-trainer Andrew Scott.
“Sam Spratt stays on Sethito after their win last Saturday, Kevin Stott on Checkmate, and Masa Hashizume rides Hankee Alpha.”
Already 10 days out from our richest race, most jockey bookings are confirmed, with George Rooke to partner Dealt With, trainer Samantha Wynne on Pivotal Ten, Matt Cartwright to ride Penman and Michael McNab partnering Ardalio.
The all-important barrier draw for the Kiwi will be held next at 7pm on Tuesday, with the remainder of the fields for Champion Day revealed at the usual Wednesday morning acceptance time.
NZB Kiwi
$3.5million, 1500m at Ellerslie on March 8
(Confirmed slots and jockeys, not in race book order)
1: Evaporate, Mick Dee
2: Checkmate, Kevin Stott
3: Penman, Matt Cartwright
4: Dealt With, George Rooke
5: Domain Ace, Craig Grylls
6: Sought After, Rory Hutchings
7: Perfumist, Ash Morgan
8: Damask Rose, Blake Shinn
9: Pivotal Ten, Samantha Wynne
10: Sethito, Sam Spratt
11: Ardalio, Michael McNab
12: Hankee Alpha, Masa Hashizume
13: First Dance, Warren Kennedy
14: To be confirmed: Ozzie Keir and partners slot.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
