Racing: Hill bites the bullet on flagship pacer

Brendon Hill is sending the best horse he has owned to another trainer and he hopes he never gets him back.

Because that would mean his shock decision to give up the training of national record holder Dalton Bromac was spot on.

Hill, a two-time New Zealand Cup-winning trainer with Monkey King, will put Dalton Bromac on a flight to Sydney tomorrow to join the NSW stable of Luke and Belinda McCarthy.

That not only ends his New Zealand Cup hopes this season but potentially his New Zealand career, just 10 months after he stamped himself a superstar of the future.

Dalton Bromac looked the real deal racing through the classes last year but it was his amazing 2200m national-record win at Alexandra Park last December that suggested he could win a major cup.

But it won't be the Cup at Addington on November 10 because the 5-year-old simply hasn't come up.

"He seems like he is stuck in second gear a bit," said Hill. "A lot of horses down here are coming out of the paddock looking backward from where they should be because it was so cold down here over the winter.

"And he hasn't caught up. I wasn't happy with him at the workouts on the weekend and he simply can't race in the Cup in that form. "So rather than muck around here I have decided to send him to Sydney, where he can race for big money, and the timing seems right because, with Beautide sidelined, their free-for-all ranks don't look special at the moment."

Hill part-owns Dalton Bromac and says while losing his flagship pacer at a time when he is rebuilding his team is not ideal, his is simply a business decision.

"He was always going to go to Sydney at some stage and I can't let my ego get in the way of that decision. I have got to stay here and train the horses I have and give this horse the chance to be the best he can be.

"There is no reason he can't come back for the Cup next year but if he adapts and thrives over there and is winning good money then he might never come back, and that would be fine by me."

Hill says the surprise decision by the Auckland Trotting Club to revert to the Taylor Mile and Messenger next autumn being for 4-year-old pacers only didn't have a major bearing on his decision.

"Sure, it added to it but they are only two races," says Hill.

ATC racing manager Kevin Smith says the board has decided to drop 5-year-olds from the Taylor and the Messenger from this season, with that decision to be reviewed for next year after the races have been staged.

The funeral of ATC president Kerry Hoggard, who passed away on Sunday, will be held at the Tasman Room at Alexandra Park at 10.30am on Saturday.