KEY POINTS:
Easy Ryder's emergence as a serious Telecom New Zealand Derby contender on Saturday at Te Rapa came at the perfect time for his stable.
Last month Derby king Roger James and training partner Paul Mirabelli were preparing to attack the $2.2 million feature at Ellerslie on February 28 with a record six runners.
Today that arsenal is down to a definite one, "maybe three at best", for the country's most coveted 3-year-old crown at Ellerslie on February 28.
Minor injuries have forced the Cambridge stable to pull out Avondale Guineas runner-up Firebolt and Leica Scotch - the latter was James' early Derby favourite.
And now HS Dyke Waikato Guineas' plunge horse Quartz Reef has been withdrawn from Derby contention after failing his acid staying test on Saturday.
The Redoute's Choice son of James' 2000 Guineas winner Foxwood only battled into eighth, six lengths adrift of the impressive Easy Ryder and Matthew Cameron.
Longshot stablemate Keep The Beel was another six lengths back in 14th spot, but is likely to get one final Derby-shot after again over-racing.
That now leaves only two-race winner Easy Ryder as the stable's certain Derby runner after pre-post Waikato Guineas favourite Jungle Boots was scratched with a slightly tender off-fore heel on race morning.
"On Saturday morning he was okay when you trotted him in a straight line but once you turned him on that one he 'ouched' his way round," said James.
However, he is confident that Jungle Boots will be 100 per cent fit for his plan B Derby lead-up, a 2000m 3 and 4-year-old race at Te Rapa next Saturday. With just two wins and $23,787 on the board, the exciting Jungle Boots desperately needs a boost up the rankings in a hurry to be assured of a Derby start.
Easy Ryder could have his final Derby lead-up - and first race right-handed - in the Championship Stakes (2100m) at Ellerslie on February 14.
But yesterday, from the final day of the national yearling sales at Karaka, James had also not ruled out a final Derby dress-rehearsal in a 1600m event on the same card.
James said the son of Brilliance - a bargain weanling buy for Glamorous Girl co-owner Jenny Grieve - doesn't do a lot on the training track to get excited about.
But the four-time Derby winning trainer knew he had something special on his hands when Easy Ryder pushed highly-rated stablemate Leica Scotch to a long neck in his second career start and first over a middle-distance on December 20, also at Te Rapa.
He was three-wide for most of the 2000m trip next time out against older opposition back at the same venue and headed twice in the straight before fighting back for a brave neck win.
His Guineas breakthrough bodes well for the step up to 2400m at the end of the month.
With gutsy Mainlander The Meista setting a scorching pace from the 1200m peg, Cameron had a relaxed Easy Ryder cruising along on the fence in sixth or seventh spot.
When The Meista broke the field apart turning for home, the pair was able to slide across heels and make a sustained stayer's run down the centre.
"I thought he was very impressive," said James. "Yes, he had a draw, but I thought he gritted it out pretty well and won comprehensively in the end in a race record."
