Racing: Now everyone knows how good Wahid is

Leith Innes and Wahid stride to Derby victory. Picture / Richard Robinson

During a quiet moment for Allan Sharrock at Ellerslie on Saturday - and there were few - he said: "Now I've won the Derby I could quit tomorrow."

Except he won't.

In fact, Wahid's dashing eclipse of the $600,000 Mercedes Derby field is only the beginning of what should be a multimillion-dollar career.

If Saturday's premier classic victory achieves one thing it is to finally dispel the remarkable lingering doubt in some minds as to Wahid's class.

Make no mistake, Wahid is a star. He's the real deal.

The sectionals he ran in front in the Derby had the classic won not the second time at the winning post, but the first.

The moment he relaxed back into the hands of Leith Innes 400m after the start and it became clear nothing was going to launch a suicidal attack on his outside, Wahid had the race at his mercy.

Running the last 800m in front on the inside rail in better than 47 seconds he made it virtually impossible for anything to pick him up.

Which made Charliehorse's third placing as he headed to Silks Restaurant in the new grandstand, quite remarkable (see accompanying item).

What is significant is the racing style that will make Wahid a dynamic force in weight-for-age company both here and in Australia.

Front runners get respect once they've proved they'll go right to the finish if tackled early. It then becomes suicide to take them on.

Except for team riding when Frankie Dettori ridiculously took her on in Dubai, Sunline was left alone to her own high cruising speed in front. How many races did that win for her.

Wahid ran five seconds faster than the last Derby won by Xcellent. That is by no means meant as a comparison of class against Xcellent, but what it shows is that Wahid can run the kind of sectionals in front that make horses extremely difficult to beat at weight-for-age.

The plusses of being a classy natural leader are immense.

You're out of trouble. You're against the inside rail. You set your own tempo. You produce your final sprint at exactly the second it suits you, not the opposition.

Hayden Tinsley climbed off beaten runner Chettak and congratulated the Wahid camp.

Tinsley had been on the horse in winning the Levin Classic, when he made a typically unorthodox move to take the traditional back runner to three wide outside the leaders most of the way and grab a nose victory.

"I taught him to be a proper racehorse," joked Tinsley.

But in a more serious moment he reflected how Wahid, with Innes aboard, has led in all his subsequent races. "I like leading on horses, but so many of the trainers I've ridden for will say: 'Be handy, but don't be in front. They seem scared of the lead - it's the only place to be if you're on the right horse."

It needs to be said here what a wonderful job trainer Sharrock has done with Wahid. Sharrock's record with topline horses in big races is now too extensive to be coincidental.

Wahid has won from 1000m as a juvenile right through to the 2400m of the country's biggest classic. That's not an easy achievement.

He was even assured enough on Saturday morning to adopt an old-time trick of galloping Wahid down the home straight at Ellerslie with Innes aboard.

"The race wasn't until 5.50pm and I didn't want him charging out of the gates and pulling, so I legged Leith up at seven o'clock and it worked."

Sharrock learned a lot of his skills from his father and former training partner Bob and there was a poignant moment in Ellerslie's Winners Circle when a silent hug generated tears.

A huge part of Wahid's talent comes from his temperament. When the large Taranaki supporters group let up the biggest Naki shout ever heard when Innes directed the 3-year-old underneath the grandstand to the winner's slot, Wahid didn't so much as cock an ear.

When he was led around the birdcage during the presentation he may as well have been at the beach.

That relaxation is wonderful, but it also sees Wahid waiting for his opposition in the home straight, despite the urgings of his rider.

That's a trait that will one day get him beaten if a horse dashes at him quickly close to the finish and the Sharrocks did not want the Derby to be the first time.

Wahid wears blinkers and on race eve father and son took a knife and cut back the width of the eye-shields on the blinkers.

"It meant he was going to see the opposition a bit earlier," said Bob Sharrock.

Difficult to say whether that worked because Wahid, full of running, allowed the eventual runner-up Roman Chariot to draw almost level on his inside at the 320m.

It looked momentarily like Roman Chariot was going to make a race of it, but once Wahid got rolling again it was game over.

It is now a three-month spell with the million dollars of the Kelt Capital Stakes and possibly the Cox Plate waiting later this year.

Innes rated it his biggest moment in racing alongside winning at Hastings on Starcraft and his first group one victory on Ad Alta.

Ron Stanley, alongside his brother Noel, reiterated how he had longed for this moment. The Opunake pig farmers have won group one races and sold Grout to the United States for a million dollars, but all that meant nothing compared to this.

One of Ron Stanley's teenage sons said: "Dad, for as long as I can remember you've always said you wanted to win the Derby."

As the team headed into the Winners Circle, you got the impression the boys finally understood.