Racing: Filly too good for Werther

Pump Up The Volume outslogged Miss Mossman (right) and Decorah in the Rotorua Cup on Saturday. Photo / NZME.

Wairarapa trainer Andrew Campbell declared Perth filly Delicacy a freak after her win in Saturday's A$500,000 South Australian Derby.

Campbell produced Werther for his Australian debut and finished second to Delicacy, who started as the $1.90 favourite.

"We couldn't have beaten her on a motorbike," said Campbell, who was delighted with Werther's performance. "She's just freakish. She wasn't entitled to win yesterday, but she won anyway.

"Any other year we'd have won the race."

Delicacy has compiled a picket-fence winning formline. She won the Perth Derby on April 11, scored the easiest win imaginable in last week's Schweppes Oaks in Adelaide and did a similar job to win on Saturday. She has now won 10 races from 14 starts.

"There is talk in the papers this morning of her running over 2500m again this coming week - she must be tough," said Campbell yesterday.

The Werther team have decided to run in the Queensland Derby in four weeks.

"He goes to Melbourne tonight, he'll spend four days in the paddock and he flies to Brisbane on Thursday."

Campbell is hopeful Saturday's jockey, Noel Callow, will take the ride in Queensland.

"Noel was thrilled with Werther's performance, but acknowledged how good the winner is."

Werther is still a fair way from tangible physical development and could be a true staying star as a 4-year-old next season.

A year can be a lifetime in horse racing, but the wait was worthwhile for the connections of tough Pump Up The Volume.

Twelve months ago Pump Up The Volume was beaten a lip by evergreen Indikator in a breathtakingly close finish to the Rotorua Cup.

This time the Cambridge stayer made no mistake in outstaying the opposition under Danielle Johnson.

"He's one tough boy," said Johnson in admiration after Pump Up The Volume ploughed through extremely tough conditions that saw many fields stretched out over 250m at the finish.

"I thought the track might have been a bit too sticky for him, but he got through it better than the others."

The Ralph Manning-trained Pump Up The Volume is the son of the 1996 Rotorua Cup winner, Nat The Brat.

There is one thing you must do at this time of year - ignore class in racehorses.

In summer, autumn and spring, class rules racing.

On truly winter tracks it barely makes the trifecta.

On tracks such as we saw at Rotorua and Taranaki on Saturday, the ability to drive through testing conditions trumps sheer class every time. Yet it generally takes punters the first few weeks each winter to wake up to that.

Saturday was the first time we've seen genuinely difficult conditions at both major meetings.

The exception to the above rule could be Fascination Street, who has more than a touch of class yet still managed the conditions late on the day at Rotorua to win the weight-for-age event with a driving finish under Michael Coleman for the O'Sullivan/Scott stable. The addition of blinkers has turned her into a different horse.