KEY POINTS:
A raging champion.
That's not a term anyone's been using to describe Sir Slick, but it's what Graeme Nicholson believes the horse will be next preparation.
At the moment he considers him just an ordinary champion.
Not everyone would agree just yet - many would rate Sir Slick exceptional, but still a metre or two behind the Sunlines and Bonecrushers of this world.
But then no one has ever successfully put a definitive on the word champion as it applies to racehorses, and certainly if you'd been picking up the $793,275 in cheques Sir Slick has won, you'd definitely be calling him a champion.
To get him to the "raging champion" status, Nicholson is prepared to waive a shot at a couple of million dollars.
Sir Slick is past the inoculation date to allow him to run at the international meeting in Hong Kong next month, but still has time to get the jabs needed to go to the S$3 million ($2.8 million) Singapore International Cup on May 20.
The official invitation from the Singapore Turf Club to compete in the all-expenses paid event was given to Nicholson at Tauranga on Saturday, but he has repeatedly indicated he would decline and did not reverse that stand on Saturday.
Many would like to see him accept. In his current form Sir Slick would be a difficult horse to beat on the on-speed dominated Singapore circuit and at a time when there are so many positives facing New Zealand racing, international success would be magnificent promotion for our industry.
But no one can argue with what the 69-year-old Nicholson has done with Sir Slick to this point.
The training might be a little unorthodox, but Sir Slick looked better on Saturday than he has all season.
There were a couple of rivals in the $125,000 Japan/New Zealand International Trophy that looked very well in the birdcage parade, but Sir Slick took the prize.
His coat looked truly magnificent, he looked aggressive but settled in the eye and he had plenty of rock-hard muscle. He had muscles in his ears.
Remarkably, he loses no muscle mass with his hard campaigning - if anything it seems to make him stronger.
Perhaps it is a great advertisement for the water treadmill featured in the Weekend Herald on the morning of Sir Slick's dashing group one victory in the $150,000 Whakanui Stud International at Te Rapa last month.
Sir Slick had four bouts on the treadmill last week.
On Saturday, jockey Opie Bosson knew he was on a winner even before he got to the barriers.
"He went to the start even better than he had at Ellerslie last start," said Bosson, who had produced his 100th winner for the season aboard Lady Cavalier earlier in the day.
Bosson, not one to publicly defend himself, was criticised - by Nicholson as much as anyone - for setting a slow early pace on Sir Slick when he was beaten a nose by Gaze in the $200,000 group one Starcraft Stakes at Ellerslie.
That was a tough call. What really beat Sir Slick that day was his refusal to run straight in the closing stages.
Regardless of the tempo of the race, had Sir Slick run a direct line to the winning post from the home turn he would have definitely beaten Gaze.
Mark Du Plessis, who rode Gaze that day, watched Saturday's race on TV in the Tauranga weighing room.
As the field pulled up Du Plessis said: "Gaze was lucky to beat him at Ellerslie," as much as from being in awe of Sir Slick as for any other reason.
After having to work to eventually grab the lead, Bosson set a reasonable tempo on Saturday.
Early in the run home Sir Slick momentarily looked vulnerable as southerner Final Reality pulled out of the trail and edged closer, but even with a 7kg pull in the handicap could make no impression from the 150m and Sir Slick was a holding half-length winner.
It was a good effort by Final Reality, but a magnificent one by Sir Slick.
"With him there's always a bit left if something comes alongside," said Bosson.
Nicholson will aim Sir Slick at the $100,000 Lawnmaster Awapuni Gold Cup on Saturday and is still keen to run in the $200,000 Champions Mile on April 14 at Ellerslie, where he has still to win a race in nearly a dozen attempts.
"The handicapper has told me he'll get 60.5kg, so that will have to be his last handicap race," said an emotional Nicholson minutes after Saturday's race.
The Te Aroha trainer said he would aim at the Hastings spring treble, incorporating the $2 million Kelt Capital Stakes.
"But I'd get him more ready this time than he was last spring."
Then it might be a crack at the A$3 million ($3.4 million) Cox Plate.
Success there would definitely be a "raging" victory.
