Racing: Silks point to stayer's Kiwi roots

Watch the colours when they go across the finish line if Railings wins the A$2.5 million Caulfield Cup at Caulfield on Saturday.

There's a big prize if you can work them out.

There's an even bigger story behind them.

A prominent New Zealand racehorse owner, Gerrard Peterson, went to an America's Cup function at Auckland's viaduct basin.

The fact he ended up sitting to former US-based Kiwi entrepreneur Owen Glenn could result in a $1.8 million payout on Saturday.

Glenn didn't know what racing a horse meant until that dinner.

Late Saturday afternoon, Glenn, Peterson and two Melbourne mates, Tony Pistikakis and Michael Lam, could be staring down a big night.

Peterson was the second biggest shareholder in The Warehouse, sold his shares, set up the No 1 Shoe Warehouse and recently sold that.

The 2000 Melbourne Cup winner Brew is Peterson's biggest thrill, but he has shares in countless horses on both sides of the Tasman.

He loves racing them with mates and decided Owen Glenn was perfect for the job.

Glenn didn't go to university from Mt Roskill Grammar, instead he set up a logistics and freight forwarding company in the United States, which is so successful he, in February, donated $7.5 million to Auckland University to establish a business school.

To prove he wasn't boring, Glenn immediately declared that, yes, it was self serving, he wanted young Kiwis to learn logistics and come work for him.

The perfect bloke to race a horse with Gerrard Peterson.

"I asked Roger James to buy me the best Zabeel stayer at the yearling sales that year and he said: 'You've just got to buy this colt I've seen'."

The fact that he was from La Suffragette, a daughter of the great Sydney mare Emancipation who fought so many battles with McGinty, was a plus.

The $300,000 came close to busting the budget, but the colt was soon in work with the Melbourne arm of James' training establishment.

One of the disappointments of James deciding to train only in New Zealand was that Railings transferred to the Australian nation-wide stable of John Hawkes.

Pistikakis and Lam did business with Peterson through the No 1 Shoe Warehouse and Pistikakis was a longtime John Hawkes client, even before he became private trainer for the Australian chicken kings Bob and the late Jack Ingham.

Railings has won six of his 12 starts so far and walked away with the Metropolitan Handicap last start to take his earnings to A$738,560.

Hawkes' No 1 stable rider, Darren Beadman, was aboard in the Metrop, but is required for Dizelle in Saturday's feature, and will be replaced by Greg Childs.

"Greg rode Second Coming for me to win the VRC Derby and I rate myself a friend. Obviously Darren knows the horse, but Greg is a real Melbourne rider," said Peterson.

Railings landed some huge punts when he won the Metrop, settling well back, looping the field and leaving the opposition behind.

When Beadman jumped off him he told Peterson to perhaps expect more in the Melbourne Cup than the Caliphate Cup.

"Darren thought being a rugged stayer might count against the horse.

"He said that you need a lot of luck in a Caulfield Cup - you need a horse that can stop and start and sprint twice in a race if necessary.

"He said he is a huge momentum horse that will be suited by Flemington.

"He felt he would be okay if they went very hard and the pattern suited horses swamping them late."

Owen Glenn now lives in Sydney and he, Peterson, Lam and Pistikakis will be a tight four in the packed Caulfield grandstand.

Caulfield has been pre-sold to 55,000 to the point where officials are saying they will close the gates at some early stage of the day, but it won't drown out the noise the four New Zealanders and Aussies make if Railings and Greg Childs get over the line.

And the colours. It took a few beers to sort it out.

Pistikakis and Lam are huge Collingwood AFL fans.

A whole bunch of VBs declared that the black colours with white stars were a satisfactory compromise on the All Black strip and the black and white of Collingwood.

"Go the black and whites" is not a rare call in Melbourne.