Racing: Almighty effort wins Waikato Cup

Bruce Almighty holds off Dawn Ghost and Tinseltown to add the Waikato Cup to his bulging trophy cabinet. Photo / Supplied

For most of yesterday, Stuart Manning's Tauranga phone was still running hot with congratulatory calls.

Many of those Waikato Cup back-pats were from Bruce Almighty fans the hobby trainer had never met.

They stuck with the ship when plenty had deserted the one-time dashing front-runner well before Saturday's $29 upset in the $100,000 group two.

It was all a bit overwhelming for 68-year-old Manning who admits he went into the Te Rapa race feeling "numb about the horse's chances.

Frustrated by the endless mid-race attacks on Bruce Almighty in his customary pacemaking role under big weights, Manning thought "bugger it" - he'd take the blinkers off.

Much earlier in the horse's 66-start career, that move had paid off with Bruce Almighty settling off the speed and powering home.

Manning, however, had no idea if those same tactics would work in the headstrong grey's twilight years.

To lessen the risk, Manning planned to make the gear change on Bruce Almighty away from the centre stage, in the $20,000 Manawatu Cup Prelude at Awapuni on Saturday.

He originally had the group three Manawatu Cup (2300m) next Saturday as Bruce Almighty's main end-of-year target.

But when the handicapper allotted the 13-race winner 58kg at Awapuni versus 54kg at Te Rapa, Manning had no choice but to take the plunge in group two company.

Manning never expected to get lucky enough to book Michael Coleman for the ride, but the "stroke of luck" proved the icing on the cake.

"I said to Michael before he went out, 'What are you going to do?' He said 'go to the front'.

"'You're the jockey', I told him, 'but don't worry if you find yourself in the trail, he can run from there'."

Coleman quickly slotted a relaxed Bruce Almighty into the trail, one back on the fence, a move that threw his rivals' early tactics into disarray.

With the grey flyer nowhere to be seen, third-placed favourite Tinseltown was trapped three wide leaving the straight, giving rider Craig Grylls no option but to slide forward to the lead.

So Royal, also caught three wide down the back, then attacked Tinseltown at the 800m softening the gallant topweight yet again.

Meanwhile, Bruce Almighty and Coleman strolled along in cruise control with the run they all wished they'd had on the fence.

"I thought, 'Yeah ya buggers, you're not going to take him on today and all your pre-race plans are out the window'," said Manning with a grin.

Buoyed by the unexpected victory, Manning said yesterday that he might give the beaten lot another crack at his Cups' King next-up in the group two City of Auckland Cup (2400m) at Ellerslie on January 1.

The group two $200,000 Wellington Cup (2400m) at Trentham on January 29 is his main summer target. He ran a gallant fifth in the same race earlier this year after getting no peace in front.

Bruce Almighty has the most eclectic mix of middle-distance silverware of any horse racing: the Taupo, Greymouth, Gore, Taranaki, Marlborough and Canterbury Gold Cups were already in Manning's trophy cabinet before Saturday.

All those wins came on left-hand tracks, but Manning doubts the Ellerslie way round will faze him.

"He's never done anything right-handed but he's never shown us any reason that he won't; it's just that we haven't started him right-handed a lot."

If he runs at Ellerslie, Bruce Almighty could clash with Saturday's exciting R80 winner Innocent Lady.

The Viking Ruler 4-year-old was never out of top gear in winning over the same trip for stand-in rider Leith Innes, her winning time just fractionally slower than Bruce Almighty. "I thought she'd win but the way she did it was pretty encouraging," said Te Awamutu co-trainer Graeme Sanders, who trains in partnership with son Mark.

He considered running Innocent Lady in the Waikato Cup instead, but opted for the easier task to avoid a stiff rehandicap for her main mission, the Auckland Cup (3200m) in March.

"With her flair and light weight, I've got no doubt she would have won [the Waikato Cup]," said Sanders.

The R90 Dunstan Feeds Championship Final (2200m) is the other next-up option.

But yesterday Sanders was leaning toward the City of Auckland's 2400m test and securing one of the Auckland Cup ballot-exemptions for the first three placegetters. "She's going to end up a lot stronger and faster than Prize Lady [Sanders' two-time Auckland Cup winner]."