Two of the stars of Karaka Million night could be about to inject some class into New Zealand’s floundering weight-for-age races.
Karaka Mile winner Prowess and runner-up Wild Night could both take on the older horses next in the $450,000 Herbie Dyke Stakes at Te Rapa on February 11, our richest weight-for-age race.
The open-age horses lack a star past the 1600m distance, with over a dozen of New Zealand’s best gallopers retired in the last 18 months while some of those remaining prefer to target Australian riches, leaving a gap at the top of the weight-for-age races.
While horses like Zabeel Classic winner Defibrillate, Prise De Fer and Coventina Bay are no pushovers, they are also hardly as intimidating as some of the weight-for-age stars of recent years, so the elite races look ripe for the picking for the better three-year-olds.
Victoria Derby runner-up Sharp ‘N’ Smart has long been tipped as a Herbie Dyke starter but that could depend on his performance in the Thorndon Mile at Trentham this Saturday, a fall-back race for him after he missed the Wellington Guineas nine days ago.