Racing: Fine prospects if the weather isn't fine

Wanganui trainer Ken Cropp left Brisbane nearly 50 years ago and hasn't been back.

But the 78-year-old now has an excuse to make a return as long as he has one more factor in his favour - the weather.

It is not the fine weather that Brisbane is well known for that Cropp is seeking. He wants rain, and the more the better.

Cropp is the trainer of Bulginbaah who took his record to nine wins from 22 starts when taking out the $35,000 weight-for-age Wanganui Stakes.

Bulginbaah would be Cropp's passport to Brisbane but he said there would be little point in making the trip if tracks were likely to remain firm.

"He's a wet tracker and it's no good going over there when it's like concrete," Cropp said yesterday.

"We have been thinking of going to Brisbane for six months now.

"But conditions have got to be right. Conditions over there are still pretty hard."

All of Bulginbaah's wins have been on rain-affected tracks. He has won four times on dead tracks, once on a slow track and yesterday's win was his fourth in heavy ground.

Cropp was born in Queensland at Townsville and began his racing career as an apprentice jockey in Brisbane. He left Brisbane for Melbourne in 1947 and came to New Zealand in 1954.

Cropp said he had only been back to Australia once in the interim. That was for the 1978 Melbourne Cup won by Arwon and he jokingly wondered why he bothered.

"I couldn't see anything of it, there were that many people there," he said.

And if he did to return to Brisbane he suspected he might not recognise the place.

He did not have a particular race in mind for Bulginbaah.

"I just wanted to have a horse good enough to take over and go back for a while - have a bit of a holiday."

On the domestic front he was more positive. He said the five-year-old gelding's next target would probably be the $75,000 Opunake Cup (1400m) at Hawera on July 22.

Bulginbaah, a $7.25 fourth favourite on Saturday, got back in the eight-horse field and his rider Jason Symes elected for an inside run on the home turn as others went wide in search of better footing.

He levelled up to Zvezda half-way down the straight and finished best to score by half a length. Zvezda held second and there was 2 1/4 lengths to Woodbury Lane, third.

Cropp said it was the sign of a good horse that Bulginbaah was able to pull out something extra when appearing to be battling.

The win was of great delight to Symes. He stood high in the stirrups and gave a big flourish of the whip near the finish but his actions earned the wrath of stipendiary stewards. He was fined $250 for his actions which is the standard penalty.

- NZPA