By MIKE DILLON
So much for the $A1.25 million Australian Cup being renamed the New Zealand Cup.
Try 3rd, (Kaapstad Way), 6th (Cent Home), 10th (Giovana), 12th (Hill Of Grace) and last (Showella).
The wound-licking was as prevalent as the navel-gazing about what went wrong.
The only smile came from Kaapstad Way's trainer Chris Wood, who was delighted with both the effort of his horse and how well he pulled up after the race.
Cent Home's run was fair, but only fair, Giovana raced lengths below her best, Hill Of Grace never got into it and Showella was battle sore and weary yesterday.
A full battery of vet tests on Showella failed to reveal much more than muscle soreness through the back and hind quarters.
"She's scoured her heels so she's been feeling the hard track for sure," said co-trainer Frank Ritchie.
Showella was ridden for the first time by Brett Prebble. Damien Oliver, on Kaapstad Way on Monday, but who has ridden Showella twice, sought out Frank Ritchie after the race.
"Damien said that when he went past Showella in the home straight he could see we were in trouble.
"He said her action looked terrible given the lovely free-moving horse she normally is."
Showella is to have an ECG tomorrow and will come home on Friday after which a decision will be made about the $A1 million Mercedes Classic in Sydney.
Kaapstad Way is a certain Mercedes starter and will head to Sydney early next week to prepare for the lead-up $A350,000 Ranvet Stakes on March 24.
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Foot and mouth disease caused a delay in veteran French stayer Jim And Tonic's departure for his date with Sunline in Dubai.
Jim And Tonic arrived at Roissy Airport on Saturday morning and customs officers wanted to know how the horse had managed to get to the airport when the horse training town of Chantilly had a total ban of animal movement in place.
They refused to allow the horse to fly and Jim And Tonic did not arrive in Dubai until Monday night.
Jim And Tonic won the Hong Kong Cup that Sunline failed in 15 months ago.
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A decision will be made at the weekend on the programme for a recovering Flying Babe.
The flying Takanini filly was flattened by a virus late last week and was yesterday described by co-trainer Richard Yuill as: "95 per cent of normal."
"She was a pretty sick horse for 48 hours," said Yuill.
"It wasn't life threatening, but it could have meant the difference between racing again this season and not racing."
A decision will be made after Flying Babe gallops at the weekend whether she takes on the $45,000 NZISS Bonus at Taranaki on March 24 or goes straight into the $120,000 Ford Manawatu Sires Produce Stakes two weeks later.
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Michael Coleman replaces a suspended Leith Innes on Platonic in Saturday's $100,000 Breeders Stakes feature at Te Aroha and was happy with the way the mare galloped at Matamata yesterday morning.
"It was too foggy to time her, but Michael was very happy with her," said trainer Graham Richardson.
Richardson said despite the fact he is happy with Platonic, he is nervous about Saturday after the mare had a horrifically draining experience when racing in the group one Thorndon Mile. Platonic was in the float for five hours on the way to Trentham when caught behind a fatal road accident.
"She's on trial for the Doncaster Handicap on Saturday," said Richardson.
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Two of the real stars from the Dubai international race meeting next weekend have been eliminated.
Last year's top European filly Petrushka broke down in Dubai as did top class American sprinter Big Jag.
Petrushka was one of the favourites for the $US6 million Dubai World Cup and Big Jag was on target to defend last year's record-breaking Dubai Sprint victory.
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Melbourne's TABCorp ceased betting on New Zealand racing last weekend after only seven weeks of operation.
The TAB was not unhappy with the turnover, the decision being made necessary by a software problem, which allows only a certain number of meetings to be covered in a day.
It is understood new software in June may allow TABCorp to reinstate the New Zealand betting.
The NSW TAB has been happy since starting betting on New Zealand race meetings on Saturdays last June, handling $A1.1 million on 12 races the weekend before last. The Queensland TAB began betting on our races two months ago.
Racing: Dismal showing leaves raiders licking wounds
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