KEY POINTS:
No one will ever explain how some horses attract a glamour tag after one or two wins and others never get it regardless of achievement.
Sir Slick has had to get to half a million dollars in earnings before the rightful accolades have been passed his way.
Part
owner and trainer Graeme Nicholson was naturally excited about grabbing his first group one victory with Sir Slick's $200,000 Thorndon Mile victory on Saturday, but he only wanted to talk about the form analysts' general dismissal of the horse.
"You'll have to acknowledge him now, surely," he said with courtesy, but definite meaning.
"I can't work out why no one gives him credit - look at his record."
Sir Slick is not just New Zealand's most underrated horse, he's one of the country's finest, arguably the best metric miler, and one of the toughest. He's an iron horse that just gets better.
He did what has flattened many horses, he ran on all three days of the Kelt Capital Stakes carnival at Hastings in the spring and did it off a six-month break.
Worse, or more impressive depending on your approach, squeezed between two of those three runs was a float trip to Manawatu to finish third in Floydeboy's Merial Metric Mile.
You almost wanted to chuckle when Sir Slick scored a remarkable all-the-way win in last week's Anniversary Handicap under 58kg topweight and Nicholson declared the horse would improve two lengths out of the race as he headed to the Thorndon.
As usual the quietly spoken Nicholson got the last laugh - he was right.
Nicholson is as unassuming as the property he trains from adjacent to the Te Aroha racetrack, from which he has achieved a stunning strike rate with a small team.
The 69-year-old used to operate four dairy farms.
"It was bloody hard work and when I got to 45 I decided that was it.
"I got involved in broodmares and stallions, but I always liked the racing side so I took out an owner/trainers' licence.
"I did pretty well and when people offered me their horses to train I took out a public licence."
If you needed further evidence that Sir Slick is indestructible it came when Nicholson was floating him and, among others, stablemate Racey Lady to Trentham midweek.
Both horses were badly shaken when Nicholson had to brake suddenly through roadworks just before the start of the Desert Road - Racey Lady's injuries meant she had to be scratched from Saturday's Desert Gold Stakes, but Sir Slick, cut and bruised, went on to take the Thorndon.
As stunning as the Anniversary win was, Sir Slick was even better on Saturday.
He copped an uncontested lead in the Anniversary, but Trentham was racing much different this time, not suiting leaders anywhere near as much.
Potentially worse, there was much more speed in the race with the likes of Maroofity and Balthazar.
Opie Bosson rode a superb race, turning a potentially disastrous situation into a winning one.
Bosson managed to curb Sir Slick's speed in the first 300m, eased the horse off the rail and into the clear and had him on the outside to present him to the front at the top of the straight.
"The only real worry I had was Balthazar dropping away quickly and leaving us in front a bit too soon," said Bosson.
"But he's tough and game and he grinds away at that good speed. He had a bit of a look at the mark on the track made by the people walking to the infield, but once he got balanced up they were never going to get to him."
Nicholson has had a massive amount of fun with Sir Slick, but it's suddenly become much harder - Saturday's win almost certainly puts him out of contention for handicap racing.
Sir Slick will tackle the $150,000 Whakanui Stud International (2000m) at Te Rapa on Saturday week then the $150,000 Otaki Maori WFA (1600m) two weeks later, but then the weight-for-age opportunities dry up.
"I might have to look at Australia."
Something needs to be said about Cambridge stallion Volksraad, who has often been seen as leaving one-dimensional horses.
There is certainly nothing one-dimentional about siring from the one foal crop the Wellington Cup winner, Willy Smith and the Thorndon Mile victor within two hours of each other.
The effort of Pins'N' Needles from the outside starting gate was stunning. The mare had to be dragged back to avoid covering too much extra ground and sustained a long sprint in the home straight.
Bonjour didn't get all favours in finishing third either and Shinzig flew from last into fourth.
Wahid did not run out the last 250m, perhaps having the legs taken out of him fractionally by sprinting hard early from a wide barrier to get over into fourth on the rail.
Southerner Delbrae was badly blocked for an inside run at the 220m and Rosina Lad ended what has been a wonderful career when he broke down.
* Lisa Cropp was suspended for careless riding on Bonjour in the Thorndon Mile. The suspension starts on February 1 and Cropp is able to resume riding on February 9.
