Racing: Best in the field delivers goods at Wellington Cup

Cambridge trainer Murray Baker walked straight over to the press after Saturday's $250,000 Wellington Cup and said: "The best horse won."

The fact Baker trained the runner-up Viz Vitae was the greatest endorsement possible for Envoy's stunning last-to-first victory.

Many thought Viz Vitae was unlucky to be hampered in tight quarters along the inside rail in the second half of the race, but his rider Andrew Calder said: "He [Envoy] had us well covered - good on him."

You could not find anyone that did not think Envoy simply stood out. Simply dominated.

He came from last, in sprinting wide on the home turn he covered more ground in the race than any other runner and he clearly outstayed the opposition in a tough 3200m.

"He was the best horse in the race," said winning rider Grant Cooksley with the finality his comments usually demand. And that has been a long time coming.

Bev and Ken Kelso and partners Jane and Rob White have shown rare patience with Envoy, who, despite now having earnings of $562,125 as a 7-year-old, really only started to pay his way a year or so ago.

He has picked up $273,000 in the last 12 weeks, A$110,000 for finishing seventh in the Melbourne Cup and $153,125 on Saturday.

The Kelsos and the Whites had serious offers for Envoy as a 3-year-old, but when two partners - Ken Kelso and Jane White - wanted to sell and the other two didn't, they kept the horse.

"He had an off year after we turned the money down and I was sure we'd done the wrong thing," said a delighted Ken Kelso in the Trentham birdcage.

"Yet despite his overall ordinary form, he was a good thing beaten at Te Rapa one day and Lance O'Sullivan jumped off him and said: "This is a good horse."

Despite wins including a Hawkes Bay Gold Cup it has taken the career-best Melbourne Cup effort and Saturday's Wellington Cup to prove that statement correct.

The win was that much sweeter for the fact the Kelsos had finished unplaced with their only two previous Wellington Cup runners, Amloch and Aces Of Luck.

"I've been waiting to win this race for a long time," said Ken Kelso.

And it did not come as he imagined.

Saturday's mammoth Wellington crowd meant there was no room on the official grandstand when Kelso attempted to gain access five minutes before the race.

"I had to go around the back of the grandstand and watch it on a television set."

It did not change the level of cheering one bit.

It was similarly a big day for Rob White, who has missed many of Envoy's eight victories because of his employment as blacksmith on Japanese stud farms. White is now back in New Zealand permanently.

We are almost certainly not going to see Envoy tackle the $600,000 Auckland Cup in March.

Almost all of his best efforts have been on left-handed tracks and Kelso is looking instead at the A$800,000 Sydney Cup with possibly the Chairman's Handicap at Randwick as a lead-up.

"I think he's had nine starts at Ellerslie for one third."

Kajema finally copped a decent passage and showed what he was capable of with a solid third, just ahead of Sing In The Sun, who made it an all-Waikato finish by making ground attractively in her first 3200m start.

Vinny Colgan was literally breathless after coming in sixth on Trebla, who was expected to be Envoy's biggest problem.

"He pulled that hard he really had me in trouble. A couple of times I had to ease him out three deep to stop him from getting on the heels in front," said Colgan between deep gulps of air.

"He really meant it."

Last year's winner Zabeat copped a poor passage, clipped heels and nearly fell approaching the home bend and finished at the back of the field.

Tony Lee deserves another pat on the back for a wonderful call against the odds with the runners carrying the colours off a Dulux colour chart.

Marvellously, the first two home carried the most distinctive colours, Envoy in bright yellow and Viz Vitae in deep red.

"The only one I had trouble getting was Lord Asterix, whose colours were impossible, but I managed to have a physical identification."

$250,000 WELLINGTON CUP

* Envoy proved a class above his opposition.

* He came from last, covered more ground than the opposition and won comfortably.

* He is now almost certainly Sydney-bound.