KEY POINTS:
Stephen Marsh was full of confidence yesterday at the chances of Chettak in the $100,000 Manawatu Cup tomorrow.
The Woodville trainer said the group three race at the Manawatu Racing Club's meeting at Awapuni, Palmerston North, lacked depth and Chettak had to be hard to beat.
When asked which horse would be the hardest for Chettak to beat, his reply was succinct.
"Bad luck," Marsh said.
Chettak won the group two $125,000 Counties Cup (2100m) at Ellerslie on November 25 and Marsh said the field for tomorrow's 2300m event was not as strong.
"It's nowhere near as good as what the Counties Cup was. If he put in 90 per cent of what he did in the Counties race you would expect him to win."
Chettak has had one start in the interim. He raced last Saturday in the Manawatu Cup Trial Handicap (2000m) at Awapuni and finished fourth, beaten a length, after making the pace.
Marsh said there was no question the horse had improved with the latest outing.
"Absolutely - he's really gone ahead nicely since that last race. It topped him off nicely."
Marsh's only concern was track conditions. The Awapuni track was yesterday rated slow with a penetrometer reading of 3.8 but the weather was clearing.
Given reasonable footing Marsh said Chettak should be hard to beat. "Yes, very hard to beat. On a good track you would almost expect him to win that sort of race."
Lisa Cropp, who rode Chettak in the Counties Cup, regains the mount.
Chettak was yesterday a clear $3.25 favourite to win the Manawatu Cup on the New Zealand TAB's fixed-odds market. Equal second favourites, at $7, were Take Three and Pretorius.
- NZPA
