Racing: Second chance for storm-hit feature

Jason Collett (Who Knows) beats his sister Tasha Collett (Tuscany Dancer) on Saturday.

Ruakaka's storm-disrupted listed feature may still be held this year after all - as a 3-year-old race on August 1.

If they get the nod today from Wellington racing bosses, club officials are hoping to slot the $50,000 Oceanz Seafood Breeders Stakes into their season-opening meeting.

They could also apply to run the race, which had attracted one of the strongest and most even fields in its history, on the first-day of the two-day carnival on Friday, July 31.

But Whangarei Racing Club's manager, Karen Houlihan, says it makes more sense to give the event the Saturday stature it deserves. It also means an extra day's breather from the Ryder Stakes at Otaki on July 25.

"We also had an offer from Avondale to run it there [on July 18], but the consensus from trainers was that they'd rather run it at Ruakaka on a firmer track."

After cyclonic conditions forced the abandonment of the event and the other four remaining races on Saturday, it was hoped the card could have been completed yesterday afternoon.

But Houlihan said it was obvious before 9am that the seaside track would take another all-day battering.

"It's actually worse than Saturday," said Houlihan yesterday.

"It's not safe for the public, horses or the jockeys; we've got iron coming off roofs and portaloos being blown around. Even getting the horses out of their boxes to load them up has been a major."

Stakes-leading rider Sam Spratt was grateful for the respite yesterday. She was left nursing a swollen face, split lip, grazed chin and bruises after debutante Kula Me Kool became spooked and dumped her behind the barrier before the first race on Saturday.

The highlight of an unfortunate day was the return to winning form of track specialist Who Knows in the $18,000 Pacific Motor Group Ford.

The forest-and-beach-trained 7-year-old shrugged off the gale-force conditions to win his fourth race on the track from five attempts.

The former Hong Kong-based gelding finished second to Mirkola Lass in his only start on the sand-based surface.

Muriwai Beach trainer Natalie Tanner was hoping to return to Ruakaka on August 1 with Who Knows, but said the 1000m open event would be too short.

The weight-for-age group three Foxbridge Plate at Te Rapa on August 15 looks the next-best option.

Tanner paid tribute to a host of people for the sparingly raced horse's latest success, not the least of whom was 2kg claimer Jason Collett.

"I knew it would come down to how the race was run and Jason's level-headed ride won us the race," said Tanner.

"If he'd made his run wide with Leith Innes [on High Octane] he would have gone too early and we would have finished second."

Tanner said there were more like "five keys" to Who Knows' rejuvenation, including equine physio Clare McGowan and farrier Kevin Craver, who works his magic on the horse's collapsed heels. "He does most of his work in the forest now and rarely goes to the track - even the beach he's a bit bored with that."

Te Aroha hobby trainer David Smyth is more concerned about the impact of the weather than the handicapper on Strapped For Cash's next major winter assignment.

The Cornwall Handicap champ proved he has few staying peers in true winter going this season when making light work of 58kg to win the $45,000 Parliamentary Handicap at Trentham on Saturday.

But Smyth knows the 6-year-old will need track conditions to suit again to be any hope of defending his Taumarunui Cup crown at Te Rapa on July 25.

"Te Rapa is going to be a completely different ball game," said Smyth yesterday en route back from his first Trentham raid.

"Last year it hosed down on the day and he really liked that; he got through it good.

"But Te Rapa doesn't really get like that now and if it's quite dry the others tend to worry him out of it, as they did at Tauranga in the Kiwifruit Cup."

Regular rider Michelle Wenn, who made the Wellington trip for the one race on Saturday, made it look easy at the line.

But the three-length margin belied the tense moments Smyth had as the field swung for home.

The Trentham rookie had walked the track Friday and admits he did not realise the surface could get so deep.

"I was worried there for a minute. I knew there was a wet spot in the centre at the top of the straight and I thought the guy on the outside [Herman Munster] may have come up on the outside and kicked on him a bit.

"But once my horse was around the corner and balanced he shot away again, which was pleasing."

Strapped For Cash's ninth win from just 25 starts continues the 6-year-old's remarkable comeback from a career-threatening injury two years ago.

The family-owned D'Cash gelding fractured a leg in a trackwork gallop and had to be confined to his stable box for three months with restricted movement.

"He's had no problems at all with the leg since," said Smyth, a cattle-buyer by profession. "It was much like a person breaking their leg; it knits and, hopefully, comes back stronger than before."

In the day's jumps feature, $50,000 Wellington Steeplechase, the Joanne Moss-trained Triplepan prevailed in a slogging finish to give partner Isaac Lupton an overdue feature win.

Lupton won the Waikato Hurdles on Spirit Of Alaton earlier in May, but had gone without a win since.

Awapuni trainer Mark Oulaghan and rider Tommy Hazlett's easy win with Counter Punch in the Wellington Hurdles was tarnished when Hazlett retired the $8.70-tote fancy The Jolly Dancer from the Wellington chase with a lap to go when well out of contention.

After a report from the raceday veterinarian, stewards questioned Oulaghan regarding any veterinary procedure which might have taken place since the horse's last start at Hastings on June 27.

Oulaghan said The Jolly Dancer had undergone epiglottic entrapment surgery 10 days before the Wellington chase, a fact he did not feel necessary to relay to the Herald when contacted about the horse's chances last week.

Stewards adjourned the inquiry to obtain further evidence.