Racing: Bradley shows nous with clever display

Showcause and jockey Darryl Bradley. Photo /Sarah Ivey

Technically it looked a bad ride.

It wasn't, and in fact Darryl Bradley's effort to win Saturday's $100,000 Waiwera Water City Of Auckland Cup on Showcause could have won him ride of the day.

And, on a day when there was massive opposition, Showcause was in the running for performance of the day.

Showcause covered a huge amount of extra ground for the first half of the race. It looked ugly, but Bradley knew what he was doing.

He was on a one-paced horse and he was aware that getting back and trying to sprint from the tail of the field from the 600m simply wasn't an option.

He steadily moved Showcause forward from the winning post and it took him until the 1200m to get in from the three-wide line.

Bradley at no stage got on the horse's case and slid him around gently, rather than sprinted him. Had he dug the horse up for a sprint at any point the result would have been different. What that left Showcause with was a kick from the home turn.

What the son of fine mare Showella lacks in sprint, he makes up for in ticker and as hard as Cassini fought him from the 250m - and she refused to yield - Showcase was equally brave and he nosed the visiting mare out.

"This horse has improved [since winning the NZ Cup]," said Bradley.

Despite that big Riccarton victory, Showcause had still won only three races going into Saturday's featureand the mission was to finish 1-2-3to avoid the ballot for the $1 million Auckland Cup in March.

From his low position in the weights Showcause probably wouldn't have made the field for the Auckland Cup had he not run in the first three on Saturday.

It wasn't entirely a champagne day for Bradley though - he copped a four-raceday suspension when he allowed King Raedwald to check Irish Opera in the Rich Hill Mile to which was added another five days for the interference Showcause created for Natsinga and Dawn Ghost early in the race. He can begin riding again on January 20.

But it was champagne, whitebait and scallops for trainer Frank Ritchie and owners Peter and Terry Archer, Grant Barnett, Gary Bates, Mike Gibson, Craig Norgate and Jim Prince.

There are few 3200m opportunities for New Zealand stayers these days - Showcause won the first of them at Riccarton and now has a date with the only other one, the Auckland Cup in eight weeks.

Ritchie has always shied away from the thought of tackling the Melbourne Cup because he believes Showcause is not up to that high standard.

While not changing that opinion greatly, after Saturday he is more inclined to think that a run at Flemington might be fun anyway.

"It's everyone's dream to have a crack at a Melbourne Cup, so who knows?"

Watching the owners filling the Cup with champagne and handing it around Ellerslie's Picolo Bar late on Saturday, you got the feeling they know.