Racing: Hot field aiming to dethrone the King

When Karen Zimmerman decided months ago not to nominate King Of Ashford for the Hastings spring treble she smiled in the knowledge the horse would meet a substandard field for his first run this season.

After all, how could the $75,000 Merial Metric Mile (1600m) at Awapuni draw a hot field a week out from the $200,000 Stoney Bridge Stakes at Hastings over the same trip.

She now realises how wrong she was.

You are never overawed by any strength of opposition with a horse like King Of Ashford, but Zimmerman knows this race is no given.

Balmuse, Bulginbaah, Baltaine, Zvezda, Sir Slick, Floydeboy, Mikki Street and Wahid, among others, represent a red-hot line-up.

"It's a very, very good field, much better than I anticipated," said Zimmerman moments before winning the first race on her home track at Otaki with Devia yesterday.

King Of Ashford is as good as anything around and his chances in this field centre around his fitness in his first start since racing away to win the Hawkes Bay Cup at Hastings in late April.

Zimmerman has an ambitious spring programme mapped out for the horse, culminating in the A$500,000 ($575,000) Sandown Cup a week after the Melbourne Cup carnival, and clearly could not afford to have him at absolute peak fitness right now.

"He's very forward; in fact he's forward enough to be right in this," she declared.

The thought behind Zimmerman not nominating King Of Ashford for the Hastings treble centred around the horse's legs.

As much as seven of King Of Ashford's nine wins have been on footing officially rated as good, he is very much a spring and autumn horse who thrives on a little give in the footing.

Zimmerman was nervous that if she committed the horse to three runs at Hastings she ran the risk of jarring his legs on the traditional firm Hawkes Bay footing before heading to Australia.

"Even looking at the field he faces on Saturday, I know I've made the right decision."

The Awapuni track, where King Of Ashford has won three of his five starts on, was yesterday rated around the 2.8 and dead.

"That's lovely, perfect," said the Otaki trainer.

Yesterday there was the prospect of a few showers, which Zimmerman says will not create concern.

Like the connections of all other runners, Zimmerman looks towards Wahid as a big danger.

"He's going to be hard to beat if the track is close to good.

"If not, you've got Bulginbaah and regardless of conditions you've got Balmuse, Zvezda ... it's a great field."

The firmer the conditions, the better the winning chances of Wahid.

He has the advantage of having had a first-up outing in the Mudgway Stakes at Hastings and little could be taken from his effort to finish eighth, 5.5 lengths from winner Seachange.

Wahid got back on a day when it was very difficult to make ground from off the pace, but worse, he was badly checked in the home straight.

Jason Symes, riding Bulginbaah, was suspended up to and including September 23 for causing the incident that resulted in Wahid being impeded.

Taking that incident and natural improvement into account, Wahid, on sheer class, has to be a major danger.

With Symes sidelined, Bulginbaah will be ridden by Kane Smith and the combination looks dangerous.

On a track that was firmer than he prefers, he did well to be fifth, four lengths from Seachange in the Mudgway Stakes. The footing this time will suit better and any further rain will shorten his odds.