Racing: Hunter Cup spot guaranteed after smashing victory

Winforu has forced his way into the Hunter Cup next week. File picture

MELBOURNE - Winforu saved his best for what could have been his last.

The South Auckland pacer stormed into Hunter Cup contention with a track record win in the A$50,000 Moonee Valley Cup in Melbourne on Saturday night.

The win was his biggest since the Great Northern Derby 26 months ago and guaranteed him a spot in this Sunday's A$500,000 Hunter, a race won in such incredible fashion by his stablemate Elsu last season.

But after the race trainer Geoff Small admitted it could have been so much different for Winforu.

The speedster has had a long and luckless Australia campaign dating back to Queensland last October and had he not won on Saturday it would have been time to come home.

"He was running out of options," said Small.

"The only way he was going to make the Hunter Cup was by winning this race and if he didn't we probably would have gone home or at least had a little freshen up before the Interdominions.

"But now we are in with a chance and the way he went he can win it [the Hunter Cup].

Daring driver David Butcher agrees.

He changed his tactics with Winforu on Saturday, running his opponents off their hooves when for most of this season he has been content to take a trail on the bigger guns of the pacing ranks.

"I have been waiting to drive him like that and this was the race to try it," said Butcher.

"I think the open class ranks are so even at the moment not many of the horses can work and still win so I thought I'd make them work.

"He felt great the whole way and while he is going to need luck next Sunday we are in there now."

What will help Winforu on Sunday is that most of the other favourites are off handicaps or disappointed in Saturday's race.

Be Good Johnny, who has been the star of the Grand Circuit so far, faces a 20m handicap and Howard Bromac, Slipnslide and Robin Hood are all off 10m.

That may not sound like a lot over 3050m but Moonee Valley is a red hot leaders' track at present and catching a horse like Winforu if he leads won't be easy.

Some of the other front markers are also struggling to return to their best, with Sting Lika Bee only average on Saturday night and Dinki Di losing much of his lustre when forced to pull back after losing a mid-race battle for the death seat.

And one-time Hunter favourite Blacks A Fake is unlikely to even make the field after missing away and tailing them home on Saturday night.

Not all the Kiwis at Moonee Valley on Saturday night were happy to see Winforu win though, as the performance may cost Canterbury pacer Bobs Blue Boy his spot in the field.

The rugged pacer was beaten a long way from home after having the perfect trip and is racing lengths below his best.

He is very much in the danger zone of missing the cut when the field is decided tonight and in his present form couldn't win anyway.

"He was disappointing and I am not sure what we can do in a week to turn him around," admitted trainer Steve Roulston.

The other New Zealand pacer who would get a start if her connections wanted is Foreal, who returned to her best with a comprehensive all the way win in the mares feature.

But her driver Anthony Butt said a cup start was 99 per cent unlikely as they do not want to overtax her heading into the mega-rich Interdominion series in Tasmania next month.

One Kiwi who won't be in the race is Baileys Dream, who was a solid but unspectacular third in the 4-y-o Bonanza on Saturday night, a race he needed to win to earn a Hunter start.


WONDERFUL WIN

* Winforu smashes the track record in the Moonee Valley Cup.

* His all-the-way victory guarantees him a place in Sunday's A$500,000 Hunter Cup.

* Delft is top qualifier for the Interdominion Trotting Final after winning his heat on Saturday.

* New Zealand will have seven trotters in the A$200,000 final.