Racing: Pre-dawn start for exceptional gelding

Zarius is led out of the Matamata racecourse pool by trainer Mark Walker after training early yesterday. Picture / Amos Chapple

It is still pitch black and not even the birds have woken when Auckland Cup hopeful Zarius is led from his paddock at the Te Akau racing stables to the Matamata racing track about a kilometre away.

A bit stiff, Zarius is briskly walked the distance just after 4am by stable hand Geoff van de Milson to loosen the race horse up for his early morning run.

Beside the track, illuminated with spotlights, Zarius is put in a stall, stripped of his cover, saddled up, and van de Milson checks Zarius' hooves to remove any stones or dirt from his feet.

It is less than a week before the 3200m Auckland Cup, and trainer Mark Walker has high hopes for the four-year-old chestnut gelding which won the Speights Cup at the New Year's races after being drawn by ballot.

Zarius also won his last race at Te Rapa last month.

In the dark the stable hands work quietly and efficiently with their charges to the tinkling of horses rattling and chewing their bits in the concrete stables.

Already the soft pud-dud of horse hooves purr in the background as the first horses gallop around the sand or plough (top soil) tracks which are a bit dry and dusty after forecast overnight showers did not eventuate.

It is the biggest training track in the country, with nearly 700 horses booked to work out there just this month.

Maintenance workers run night shifts to care for the tracks, including tilling to give a bit of traction.

This morning Zarius was put through a gallop which increased in tempo and ended in a 600m sprint.

Galloping alongside her was three-year-old champion filly Shikoba - as a spur for fitness and competitiveness.

"Geez," says freelance racing writer Dennis Ryan as he looks at his stopwatch.

"Did you get that?" he asks Walker.

"Yep," says Walker.

Zarius has run an impressive one minute and 14.4 seconds over the last 1200m.

"That's exceptional work," explains Walker.

"It will probably be headlines in the Herald tomorrow," offers Ryan, who writes for the paper.

After the workout Zarius gets a cold hosedown, the excess water scraped off with a leather strap, and his face gets a good scrub with a flannel dipped in a weak iodine solution.

He sometimes makes a bit of a fuss, but usually that's because after a run he's desperate to go for a walk around the yards to unwind.

Zarius has been training every morning since last July in a long build-up to Wednesday's Auckland Cup, although he has only been lightly raced.

"He's doing really well," says Walker.

"He's the most promising staying horse we've got."