Racing: Monkey King gets a chance to reclaim his crown

Tony Herlihy

Great Northern Derby winner Monkey King gets a perfect chance to redeem his reputation in the eyes of Australians when he makes his Harold Park debut tomorrow night.

The Steven Reid-trained pacer was a costly failure when he finished only fourth in his heat of the Victoria Derby in January.

That saw him balloted out of the classic and he returned to New Zealand without racing again.

He has since won the Flying Stakes at Addington and been beaten by a nose by Pay Me Christian in the New Zealand Derby.

He will start from the ace tomorrow night in his prelude to next Friday's A$100,000 New South Wales Derby.

Darren Hancock will drive Monkey King, as regular reinsman Todd Mitchell has commitments at Alexandra Park.

Meanwhile, two of New Zealand's Interdominion contenders have made winning returns but only one of them has been paid for it.

Interdominion Trotting champion Delft made his first public appearance since winning the title at Moonee Valley on February 12 when he won at the Pukekohe workouts on Tuesday.

The giant trotter pleased driver Tony Herlihy with his win over Galleon's Sunset, trotting his last 800m in 58.5 seconds.

"He looked very well and felt great too," said Herlihy.

The win was just the blowout Delft needed before he resumes at Alexandra Park on Friday week, when he takes on Pompallier and Australian visitor A Touch Of Flair.

All three will be using next week's race as a lead-up to their final big aim of the season, the $100,000 Rowe Cup at Alexandra Park on May 5.

That race is likely to decide who wins New Zealand Trotter of the Year, with Delft favourite at this stage over Allegro Agitato, Pompallier and Our Sunny Whiz.

While Delft's winning return was just a training exercise, one of the better Kiwi pacers at the Interdominions in Hobart last month has paid for his trip by staying on.

Napoleon, who was dogged by bad draws in the series, recorded his first win of the year when he ran bravely to overcome a 20m handicap in the A$40,000 Easter Cup in Launceston on Sunday night.

The Barry Purdon-trained pacer was expertly driven by Christian Salter.

He outsprinted his rivals over the last 400m, downing Interdominion heat winner Hexus and Hunter Cup runner-up Tromos by seven metres in a 2:1.6 mile rate for the 2698m.

It was Napoleon's third win of the season.

He will now head for a spell after contesting a A$25,000 free-for-all in Launceston this weekend.