KEY POINTS:
Shaune Ritchie laughed to himself on Saturday each time a group of tipsters dismissed the chances of Magic Cape in the $80,000 Wellington Stakes because he hadn't raced for nine weeks.
"The days are gone when you had to run them leading up to a 1600m," said Ritchie after Magic Cape achieved an astonishing last-stride victory.
Ritchie knew he had his 2000 Guineas winner ready for a big effort and he also knew the talented 3-year-old would drop out to last early, because those were his riding instructions to Patrick Holmes.
What he hadn't allowed for was Magic Cape heading out towards the crowd at the top of the home straight - making a tough job almost impossible.
"Patrick said he copped a significant bump from another runner," said Ritchie.
Magic Cape finished strongly as is his pattern, but he looked a $100 shot to pick up Figeures, who was three lengths clear at the 150m.
The winning $46,875 stake means there is now only $953,125 to make up from the aborted $1 million sale to Hong Kong last month and the $700,000 Derby at Ellerslie is looming and offers an opportunity to put a big dent in that.
"With the breed of horses we have now, you don't have to run them like you used to. This horse will have only one more run before the Derby and that's all he'll need.
"Look at Punt Higher on Saturday - he won over 2100m in his first start for nine weeks."
The only worry with Saturday's effort is that it may have been extremely hard on Magic Cape, but as Ritchie loaded the 3-year-old onto the float at Foxton yesterday morning for the trip back to Cambridge, he was delighted with how little the race seemed to have taken from him.
The final Derby lead-up was always planned as the $100,000 Championship Stakes at Ellerslie on February 17, but Ritchie says he is playing around with the chance of running him in the $150,000 Whakanui Stud International Stakes at Te Rapa instead.
"The idea of the Championship Stakes is to give him another run at Ellerslie for the Derby, so I'll probably run him there."
Greeness is still an issue with Magic Cape, but the moving back of the Derby to March is a big help.
"The trip to Christchurch for the 2000 Guineas helped him. We put him on the float every day to take him to the beach and he grew up a lot mentally.
"Stolen Thunder and Young Zeus are mentioned as big chances against him in the Derby and they look as if they're as green, if not greener, than Magic Cape."
* The win prompted the TAB to elevate Magic Cape to clear $6 favourite for the Derby ahead of Stolen Thunder and Brute Force at $7.
