Racing: Scent of $1m attracts unlikely bunch

Wealth Princess leads the betting for Trentham today. Photo / Steven McNicholl

Put up a million dollars and they'll come from anywhere.

Mind you, in horse racing they come from all spheres of life at the best of times.

Brent Gillovic who trains today's $1 million The Oaks Stud Telegraph favourite Wealth Princess was a tax inspector.

Michael Pitman, the trainer of well fancied Coup Align, wanted to be a professional golfer until he lost a leg in a motor accident.

A Gold Trail's trainer Gary Portelli was a polo player.

At nearly 2m tall Jeff Lynds, with the wildcard Wall Street in the race, certainly didn't enter horse racing as a jockey.

Melbourne's Danny O'Brien with Keano engaged has degrees in economics and law.

The lure of the horse will see this eclectic, unlikely bunch with their feet firmly planted in the Trentham grandstand at 5.42pm today with a common goal of attempting to take away New Zealand's richest sprinting prize.

Degrees or lack of them will mean nothing when the gates fly open - as Tessio once said, the only judge in a horse race is a piece of wood they call the winning post.

Jeff Lynds spent a year in commerce before he took the punt to follow his heart into the racing game.

"I went and got a job with Bill Sanders [champion trainer]."

That long ago decision took a while to pay real dividends, but with 500-plus winners and Vosne Romanee taking the Kelt Capital Stakes and Zabeel Classic at group one level already this season, Lynds knows he's where he wants to be.

He also knows he's done the right thing by surprising a lot of people by going ahead with running Wall Street in today's big race when next week's Thorndon Mile looked the obvious target.

It's proved an astute decision.

"The main reason we had a look at this race is that the long-range forecast for tomorrow has always been for rain on the day."

The fact Wall Street has not raced since winning the 1600m Couplands Bakeries Mile at Riccarton on November 11 does not faze Lynds, who has always had the talent to get horses ready to win major races without a solid racing background.

"He comes to hand quickly. He can also settle and be not far off them and he has a very good turn of foot."

Lynds is not certain what rain will mean, but he's not distressed.

"He can cope with a slow track, worse than that might be a problem.

"Rain on the day can always be a problem, but it will disadvantage a few and he probably won't be one of them."

The money continued to pour in for the Telegraph favourite Wealth Princess, forcing the TAB to drastically reduce her quote late yesterday to $3.80.

That is a massive percentage downturn on the $5.50 being offered midweek.

Wealth Princess won her only race on a slow track and rider David Walsh is not overly concerned about a possible downgrade.

Of particular interest is Walsh's opinion that Wealth Princess is unlikely to be at the back of the field early as she has been in her last two raceday starts. Walsh believes both circumstances were coincidental and expects to have Wealth Princess close to mid-field after 100m.

The fact the mare's wins have been so ridiculously easy means it's still difficult to assess just how good she might be.

If she handles conditions well and can launch her sprint from no further back than mid-field then she will take some beating with just 52kg.

Mufhasa finished unplaced in the Railway at Ellerslie a year ago then came out and blew them away in this race.

He went no better in the Railway this time, but the real key is that he drops from 59kg at Ellerslie to 57kg.

$1M TELEGRAPH

New Zealand's richest ever sprint has brought together some unlikely combatants.

Brent Gillovic, a former tax inspector, holds the key with unbeaten mare Wealth Princess.

The classy mare is five from five and although this is a massive step up, punters have flocked to back her.