Racing: Injured rider away while mate tries for second

You can't really blame injured apprentice Gemma Sliz for escaping to Sydney this week to see the New Year in with a friend.

This time last year the English import was the toast of the nation after winning the Auckland Cup on Upsetthym, aka Pepsi around trainer Karen Fursdon's Matamata stable.

But when Upsetthym lines up at Ellerslie tomorrow to attempt a repeat of that fairytale victory, it will be her third straight group one two miler with Sliz on the sideline.

A Brisbane blunder aboard Upsetthym cost Sliz a suspension and with it the Brisbane Cup mount on the mare, who went on to run a brave third.

Then any chance of a reunion on Upsetthym in Melbourne and Auckland was lost when Sliz took a horrific career- threatening racefall at Ruakaka in September.

She has made such a speedy recovery from the nasty back injury and other fractures, Fursdon expects to see Sliz back in stable duties in February.

But to rub a little more salt into the wounds, while she recuperates Sliz also has to watch another headline act go around without her name in the racebook, one of the country's most exciting three-year-olds, Justa Tad.

"It is disappointing for Gemma and I guess it doesn't help much that both horses are now being ridden by the same rider [Vinny Colgan]," said Fursdon.

"It's never easy sitting on the sideline watching someone else win on her when I know she would rather be on Pepsi's back.

"But I know she'll still be glued to a TV somewhere in Sydney watching the race."

If Fursdon's hunch is right about Upsetthym's condition since returning from Melbourne, Sliz should brace herself for a bittersweet start to the New Year.

Fursdon admits that tomorrow's race wasn't originally on Upsetthym's programme when she returned from her Melbourne Cup campaign.

But spending her summer swishing flies in her paddock was the last thing on the agenda for this proven two miler.

"When she got home after 27 hours of travelling from Melbourne she was like a charging bull and tore off around her paddock flat stick," said Fursdon.

"I thought 'if you're that well, why put you in a paddock'."

Upsetthym breezed through the stringent series of vet tests Fursdon insisted on before green lighting her Auckland Cup defence.

And any doubts over her readiness for another tough two-miler were quashed when she resumed, fresh from Flemington, with a slashing fourth to Cup rival Tantalic over 2300m at Awapuni on December 18.

Fursdon is confident Upsetthym would have finished even closer in the Manawatu Cup had she not struck a heavy track.

A downpour on the day turned that race into a slog fest and the six-year-old's fitness only gave out for Colgan inside the last 200m or so.

If Sliz has to miss the ride tomorrow, Fursdon can't think of anyone more appropriate than Colgan to take her place.

Colgan rode Upsetthym in her first two trials and was aboard at Ruakaka when her career almost ended in just her third raceday start.

Upsetthym lost the plot, as she was prone to do in those early days, and almost went over the running rail.

She came close to severing a tendon in the accident and spent the next three months in the paddock.

"I guess you could say this is payback for Vinny in a way. He did a lot of the early work on her," said Fursdon.

With the Awapuni run behind her, Fursdon can't fault Upsetthym's condition for tomorrow.

She may not have had the same lead-up to last year's win, a PQ-Queen Elizabeth winning 2400m double, but Upsetthym is mentally tougher and physically a lot stronger this time round.

And don't read anything into her below-par formline in Melbourne either, warns Fursdon.

If not for a couple of carpark draws and a few gaps closing at the wrong time, she would have come home with much better than a fifth.

Fursdon's cup confidence is boosted by knowing her stable star has also got something going for her tomorrow that only Bodie and Cyclades can boast, winning form at the distance.

"It's a good, even field, but I couldn't be happier with my mare at this stage," said Fursdon.

"She won't mind a bit of rain around and really looks like she's ready to run two miles."