Racing: Sacred Star set for sprint

Sacred Star won the NRM Sprint to earn him the champion NZ sprinter title for the 2014-15 season. Photo / Trish Dunell

Top notch sprinter Sacred Star will be out to make up for lost time at Trentham.

The eight-year-old will resume in Saturday's Gr.1 JR & N Berkett Telegraph (1200m) after Tony Pike was forced to take the Flying Spur gelding out of the Gr.1 Railway (1200m) on New Year's Day due to the wet ground.

"It was unfortunate, the rain seems to follow him wherever he goes and there's not that many races to suit him," the Cambridge conditioner said. "Hopefully, he gets a good track this time."

Sacred Star has an excellent record when fresh and Pike is confident of a bold showing at the weekend.

"He hasn't run for a long time, but he's had three barrier trials and he's ready to run a race," he said.

Sacred Star won the Telegraph three years ago and subsequently added the Gr.1 NRM Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa to earn him the champion New Zealand sprinter title for the 2014-15 season.

Pike will have a strong team at the Wellington meeting with Magic Chai in the Gr.3 Wellington Cup (3200m) and the exciting Jasd, Morweka and Poppy Star in supporting events.

"The query with Magic Chai may be the two miles, but his last three runs over 2200m have all been super," he said.

• Glamour galloper Volpe Veloce will be in rare company if she wins the Telegraph at Trentham on Saturday.

The Matamata mare, who is unbeaten from six starts at 1200m, would be just the fourth horse in the past 40 years to complete the Railway Stakes-Telegraph double in the same season.

The Sistema Railway, which is run at Ellerslie on January 1, and the Telegraph have long been established as New Zealand's premier 1200m events.

The Railway winner has usually gone on to tackle the Telegraph later in the month — more than 30 of the last 40 Railway winners also started in the Telegraph — but it has been a difficult double to achieve.

It has not been done since Bawalaksana won both races in 1999, with Loader (1996) and Mr Tiz the only others to complete the double in the past 40 years, though Mr Tiz achieved the feat twice, in 1989 and 1990.

Vinaka, Vain Sovereign and Arbre Chene also won both the Railway and the Telegraph over the same period but not in the same season.

Four-year-old Volpe Veloce is trained by Graham Richardson and Gavin Parker and has a career record of 10 wins from 13 starts.

She will carry another 2kg as a result of her Railway win but is expected to dispute favouritism for the Telegraph with Kawi, who has won seven Group I races.

Star South Island galloper Patrick Erin heads the field for the $250,000 Wellington Cup (3200m). Patrick Erin has had nine wins and three placings from 12 starts at 1600m or further.

- NZ Racing Desk, NZTR