KEY POINTS:
In the United States, where major race meetings can run for 25 to 40 days straight, racing clubs often have regular meetings with the horsemen housed on track to see what is available to run the following week.
The basic racing programme for that week is then framed around the available horse population and feature races are set in a staggered pattern.
For obvious reasons we can't do that here, but the exercise to run tomorrow's Coca Cola Mile at Ellerslie is a classic example of how a system somewhere in between what the Americans and New Zealanders do can work.
New Zealand used to be very rigid in its race programming and it is often four to five months away from some meetings when programming committees from the various regions set their template for a three-month bank of race meetings.
That can lead to glaring omissions as we had when Wahid and Sir Slick were left stranded without a suitable 1600m race to lead them into the $200,000 Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie on Boxing Day.
Congratulations to the Auckland Racing Club to step in and right this situation.
CEO Chris Weaver and his team were made well aware that their leading lights for the Zabeel Classic were in potential trouble and quickly carded tomorrow's $25,000 race.
The ARC will lose money on the race - yesterday only Carlisle Bay, Sir Slick, Wahid, Luck and The Silence Sir remained to run.
But the club achieved something much more important - it guaranteed the horses necessary for a prestigious Zabeel Classic.
Wahid's trainer, apart from being relieved, is glowing in his praise for the ARC.
"It was extremely good of the club to frame this race - they didn't have to and I'm thrilled that they did," said Allan Sharrock.
"Without it it was going to be very difficult to have Wahid in the right shape for the 2000m of the Zabeel."
Chris Weaver said the club is delighted to have made the move.
"As soon as we became aware on Sir James Fletcher Stakes day that the connections of particularly Wahid and Sir Slick were concerned about the Zabeel, I rang around a few trainers and asked whether they would support a race if we carded one.
"To be fair a couple that said they would be here haven't accepted, but it was always obvious we weren't going to get Xcellent.
"It was always going to be a small field, but we wanted every horse to have their chance in the group one on Boxing Day."
Sharrock says he would have struggled without this race.
"He's badly in need of this race. He's still blowing in his work and he's still on the upward plane.
"But he's a summer horse, when the sun's out and the feed's good he thrives. He's not a spring horse."
Graeme Nicholson decided to repay a debt when he gave 4kg claiming apprentice Roxanne Rattley the ride on Sir Slick tomorrow.
It might seem odd to some - South African-born Rattley used to be apprenticed to Nicholson's Te Aroha stable, but earlier this year transferred to Shaune Ritchie at Cambridge.
"I've been having massive staff problems here at the stable," said Nicholson. "Roxanne was kind enough to say she'd come over and give me a hand a couple of days a week.
"She galloped Slick the other morning for me and I said, 'right, you can have the ride on Saturday'.
"He galloped brilliantly for her and she said there was something left - actually, a fair bit."
And like Allan Sharrock, Nicholson is thrilled for the opportunity to run his horse.
"Slick is the type of horse that if he doesn't run you have to gallop the guts out of him and I didn't want to do that."
