By MICHAEL GUERIN
MELBOURNE - New Zealand's hopes of breaking a 24-year Interdominion drought on Australian soil have been left in tatters.
A savage Hunter Cup at Moonee Valley on Saturday night has left two of New Zealand's best pacers in doubt for the series while Australia's best pacers dominated for the second Grand Circuit race in a row.
It wasn't so much the shock win of West Australian pacer Another Party, who made the most of a perfect drive from 21-year-old horseman Mark Reid to win the cup.
That was simply a classic case of the horse with the most economical run getting the last run at a tiring leader in the dying stages of a 3050m war.
And the effort of Queensland runner-up Sailor's Corner was gutsy after he led and driver Brian Gath dictated the tempo.
Of greater concern for the Kiwis were the efforts of Shakamaker and Atitagain.
The two Aussie big guns finished third and fifth after coming wide from near last and clearly outshone their key New Zealand rivals.
But that wasn't the really bad news.
The bad news is that the two New Zealand favourites for the race - Yulestar and Black Cam - both produced the worst performances of their careers and are now in danger of missing the Interdoms.
Trainer Mark Purdon was already considering bypassing that series and after Black Cam showed his inexperience by galloping early he is certain to return home for a possible Easter Cup tilt before spelling and being set for next season's New Zealand Cup.
Yulestar's plans are not so clear after his shocker.
The superstayer was driven to perfection by Tony Shaw but was a beaten horse 500m from home and crawled up the straight in a race that unfolded almost perfectly for him.
"That was simply too bad to be true so I know in my heart of hearts there must be something wrong with him," said trainer Lorraine Nolan.
"Tony said he was flat all the way and he was coughing when we got him home.
"We take some tests, have him scoped and then look at our plans but he can't go to the Interdominions with a cloud like this hanging over him."
At least Yulestar got into the race, which is more than can be said for Purdon's other rep Ouch, who galloped wildly early, checked three rivals and then dumped Purdon on the track.
Neither horse nor driver was hurt but Purdon won't be rushing to find another standing start for Ouch.
Yet Ouch will be perfectly suited by the all-mobile conditions of the Interdoms and could still be the Kiwi dark horse in the series in Queensland.
But it wasn't all dark clouds on the horizon on Saturday night and Holmes D G continued his form resurgence after that poor Victoria Cup run of a fortnight ago.
The Grand Circuit champion had no chance to impress after being trapped last but he made good ground into sixth in the straight and is another who will be more than competitive when he returns to mobile racing.
Former New Zealand Cup winner Homin Hosed at least justified his controversial inclusion in the field by beating more home than beat him.
And as always there was a Kiwi winner among the chaos.
Another Party was formerly trained by Mark Purdon, for whom he won a Bathurst Gold Crown as a juvenile and was a highly competitive 3-year-old, even beating Christian Cullen.
He was then sold to West Australia by his syndicate of all-female owners, many of whom are married to prominent northern horsemen.
But the syndicate still own Another Party's dam and in these days of rapidly inflating yearling prices Saturday night's win could prove a windfall for the syndicate.
Hey, it may not be much but after two Australian feature race trifectas in a fortnight we are allowed to grasp at straws.
Racing: Hunter Cup failure savages NZ aspirations for Interdoms
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.