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KEY POINTS:
Nervous Telecom Derby camps hovering near the entry cut-off for New Zealand's richest race got the best news possible yesterday.
A quick ring-around some of those higher up the pecking order confirmed at least three non-starters in Skirmish, Takeanotherchance and the New Zealand Oaks-bound Alagant Satin.
That elevates fringe runners Late Addition, Sufficient and Heza Karma Karzi inside the starting 18, with the possibility of a Derby lifeline to the next two in the danger zone, Fears Nothing and Gallant.
New Plymouth trainer John Wheeler said a final decision on an Ellerslie start for Juice wouldn't be made until next week, but there was a chance she would sidestep the February 28 race for the Oaks.
And yesterday Riccarton co-trainer Peter Williams said there was now doubt about a Derby run for Moveovr after an inexplicable last in the Telecom Championship Stakes at Ellerslie on Saturday.
"We're running tests on him today to try and find out what's wrong," said Williams.
"He's never gone that bad before; it could be that he might be better suited to the 1600m on the same day [as the Derby]."
Foxton trainer David Haworth was rapt to hear yesterday that his Waikato Guineas placegetter Fears Nothing was still a hope of making the final line-up.
Haworth said it was best to forget his eighth in the Championship Stakes on Saturday.
"He just wants a better track; I don't think the Derby distance will worry him," said Haworth.
Trainer Richard Collett, however, wasn't so sure about pressing ahead with Derby plans for Gallant, despite the rain also offering an excuse on Saturday.
"We had to run and we got the result we expected on that track," said Collett.
"But maybe he just didn't go well enough to justify being in the Derby, and you have to ask yourself, do you want to run just for the sake of being there, or do you want to be there to be competitive?"
Hunterville trainer Adrian Bull may have scrapped Skirmish's Derby plans after the filly floundered in the Ellerslie mud on Saturday.
But he left confident that stablemate The Spaniard would be back on Saturday week with a realistic winning hope. His late-charging fifth on a track that didn't suit was a highlight of the race.
"It was a good run; at the 300m he got held up on the backside of a few horses," said Bull. "And Robbie[Hannam] had trouble pulling him up so he should have no trouble with the distance."
