Racing: Darci Brahma shows why he's Mudgway favourite

Chief TAB bookie Paul Lally labelled Darci Brahma a good thing for the Mudgway Partsworld Stakes after watching him finish second under a stranglehold in the day's major heat at a bitterly cold Taupo yesterday.

"What beats him now?" queried Lally as he announced that he had tightened the Danehill colt to $2.75 favouritism for the season's first group one race on Saturday week.

Few who braved sleet and hail to watch the trial would argue with Lally's assessment. Darci Brahma was beaten three-quarters of a length by Kristov, the horse he had tracked throughout, but if Michael Walker had given him just one squeeze the result would have been much tighter.

"I would have loved to have," said Walker, "but that wasn't the idea. He was enormous."

Trainer Mark Walker had one warning for those wanting to take the tight odds on Darci Brahma.

"He's got to have a good track, otherwise I couldn't be happier with him," he said.

The one thing Walker has yet to decide is whether to go with the blinkers that have had such a positive effect on Darci Brahma in his two trial outings in the past three weeks.

He wore them for the first time in competition when scoring at Te Teko on August 1 and gave Walker food for thought again yesterday.

"That's something we're still mulling over," he said as he played that card close.

Rival trainer Phil Stevens remained understandably bullish despite Lally letting Kristov's odds out one point to $9.

"Missing that bit of work when he broke his jaw hasn't made any difference," he said. "He had a bit of a puff but he's more forward than I expected."

The major tightener from yesterday's trials was Sir Slick, whose Mudgway odds were halved to $50 following his narrow but comprehensive win over Mohican Brave in the other open 1200m heat.

Pentane's Kelt Stakes odds came in from $12 to $10 with his third placing to Kristov and Darci Brahma. He was ridden more forward than in his Te Teko trial and maintained a solid gallop that had his connections smiling.

The open 1300m heat revealed lightly raced Cambridge galloper Sunrize as one to look out for when he outfinished Zarius and fellow Melbourne Cup entry Envoy.

Last season's champion two-year-old Jokers Wild let his second season opposition know he means business again when he cruised home in an open 1000m heat.

"He's always been a strong sort of horse but he feels enormous now," said Michael Coleman after riding the colt to a three-quarter-length win over another of last season's leading juveniles, Don Garcia, and stakes winning five-year-old Fiscal Madness.

The winning time of 1:01.74 was the fastest of 13 over that distance on the day.

"Having such good ground to run on made all the difference too. He's been going all right in training but he really enjoyed that."

Co-trainer Dean Melton was satisfied afterwards that Jokers Wild is well on target for his first major spring target, the Hawkes Bay Guineas on October 7.

"That gallop between races at Matamata a couple of weeks ago did him a lot of good," said Mike Moroney's new training partner. "He didn't have his first gallop in company until last Saturday and now he's done that he's where we want him."

Jokers Wild, the winner of both of last season's group one two-year-old events, will return to racing in a three-year-old 1200m event at Hastings on September 2. He is unlikely to start again until the Hawkes Bay Guineas five weeks later.

Naturo, one of last term's best two-year-old fillies, flagged her return in the Highview Stakes on September 23 with a comfortable win in a 1000m heat for three-year-olds.

She is not the same robust type as Jokers Wild, but still impressed with the physical development she has made since the autumn.

"That's all we needed to see for now," commented trainer John Sargent. "She's on target and we've got time up our sleeve."