Racing: MacO'Reilly may double up

There is a lot of pressure on MacO'Reilly and his trainers David Haworth and Matt Dixon in tomorrow's $200,000 Whakanui Stud Stakes at Te Rapa.

And Haworth says he's not feeling that pressure.

MacO'Reilly won the Whakanui last year and remains unbeaten in five career attempts at tomorrow's 2000m distance.

He won a R80 2000 a couple of years ago, took both the Awapuni Cup Trial and Awapuni Gold Cup and went to Ellerslie after last year's Whakanui and won the Skycity NZ Stakes.

MacO'Reilly missed his opportunity to make it six from six at 2000m when he copped a virus on the eve of the Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie over the holiday carnival.

The stable is confident the topliner is fully recovered.

Haworth is comfortable about tomorrow's group one feature for two reasons: MacO'Reilly put up a phenomenal performance to be beaten only a neck by Barinka in the Anniversary Handicap at Trentham under clear topweight of 60kg.

The second is that regular rider Hayden Tinsley made a special trip to Foxton on Tuesday morning to ride MacO'Reilly in a gallop and declared the horse at least as well as at any previous stage of his career.

"He's flying," says Haworth.

Last year MacO'Reilly beat Tell a Tale by a mere half a head with Veloce Bella third.

The same quinella again, in fact the identical trifecta, is no longshot, although 3-year-old Monaco Consul, who has worked well this week at Matamata and has several gear changes, might have a say in that.

Tell A Tale's fourth to Wall Street in the Thorndon Mile was every bit as good as MacO'Reilly's in the Anniversary a week earlier.

He gave weight to Wall Street - almost an impossibility - walked out of the starting stalls to settle a clear last and made huge ground to finish one length off the winner.

That performance told a lot of stories, one of them being that Tell A Tale is looking for the middle distance he gets here.

The last time he tried 2000m was in the Zabeel Classic, in which he got back and made ground well into third behind Vosne Romanee.

Trainer Mark Walker's concern is that Tell A Tale will continue with his recent habit of dropping off the body of the field in the first 200m.

"It's not that he's missing away at the jump, he seems to jump with them then sort of baulk and watch the others go.

"In one of those miles at Hastings the [starting] gate swung back and hit him on the head.

"They're intelligent animals and he's remembering it.

"We've given him a lot of practice out of the wooden gates here at Matamata and, hopefully, we've got his confidence back."

WHAKANUI FORM
* Last year's winner MacO'Reilly is unbeaten in five career starts at tomorrow's 2000m distance.
* has fully recovered from the virus that kept him out of the Zabeel Classic.
* He looked fabulous in finishing second under 60kg in the Anniversary Handicap.
* Last year's runner-up Tell A Tale is again a rival.