KEY POINTS:
Don't be put off Gotta Go Cullen at Cambridge tonight just because of his expensive last-start failure at Alexandra Park.
That is the opinion of champion trainer-driver Tony Herlihy as he looks toward the $30,000 Cambridge Classic with the former glamour pacer.
Gotta Go Cullen joined Herlihy's stable
six months ago after being purchased for a reported $1.6 million but his debut from his new home two weeks ago was an inglorious one.
The four-year-old galloped soon after the start of an intermediate grade pace and was never a winning chance afterwards.
But Herlihy says the gallop was not the stallion's fault.
"He hit the wheel of another sulky because he was just getting too stirred up," he explains.
"He was fired up because he was fresh but then David (Butcher) was driving Metekhi outside us and he was tapping his horse up.
"I think he (Gotta Go Cullen) thought he was being asked to go - so he took off.
"That is why he hit the wheel so you can forgive him for that."
Gotta Go Cullen had earlier produced two good trial efforts for Herlihy and has a huge advantage in the barrier draws tonight.
He has drawn the ace, while key rivals Montecito (two) and Days Of Courage (four) are outside him.
Gotta Go Cullen has always been explosive off the gate and Herlihy intends to use that tonight, hoping to stay in front.
And he says missing a hard race last start shouldn't be a concern tonight.
"He is an athletic type of horse and fitness shouldn't be a major problem," he said.
What could be a problem is the ultra-consistent Montecito being able to slide into the trail behind him effortlessly at the start.
That will "gift" him the passing lane and at his peak he would have a great chance of taking a shortcut to victory on the peg line.
But after a slight recent setback he may not be so potent and Gotta Go Cullen may be able to hold him to the line.
The huge improver in the four-year-old ranks this season has been Days Of Courage, who has been developed from being a plucky equine midget to a potential open class force and has won nearly a third of his 34 starts.
He has enormous gate speed and has shown plenty of guts during a hard campaign so far. If he had drawn inside the other two favourites he probably would have beaten them.
But from barrier four he faces sitting parked or being further back - and even in a small field that will be hard to overcome at Cambridge.