By BARRY STREET
Trevor McKee had mixed feelings after the Glenmorgan Handicap at Ellerslie on Saturday when under normal circumstances he should have been rapt with a stable quinella.
The class three 2100m did not pan out as expected with hot favourite Nahayan finishing only third on the eve of a Sydney campaign.
But at a protest hearing it was found that the winner, Steel Brook, had hampered Nahayan in the final stages.
The judicial committee found that, but for the interference, Nahayan could have been second in a neck-and-short head finish with Steel Brook and Nahayan's stablemate Ebony Honor.
As a result Ebony Honor was awarded the race, Nahayan was promoted to second and Steel Brook relegated to third.
McKee was disappointed that the offending rider of Steel Brook was his own No 1 stable jockey, Peter Johnson.
He also admitted that had Steel Brook kept a straight course the Tauranga horse would have been a worthy winner.
"Nahayan came to the end of her run because she was a race short - a bit too pretty and fresh," McKee said.
"We thought that, even though it was only her second start since early November, her class would carry her through. But she got a bit worked up and sweaty and over-raced early when there was not much pace on."
Nahayan could have one more race before an AJC St Leger bid on April 29 and a Sydney Cup attempt on May 6.
Ebony Honor, fourth in the New Zealand Derby at Ellerslie on Boxing Day, could head to Adelaide for the $A100,000 Veuve Clicqot Stakes at Morphettville on April 29.
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Tauranga trainer Del Roberts was naturally hacked off that Steel Brook had cost himself the Glenmorgan Handicap because it was the 4-year-old's final race for the season.
"I've got a lot of time for this horse," Roberts said. "He won two in a row very nicely a couple of months ago and was then dead unlucky in the New Zealand St Leger at Trentham.
"It's not hard to see that he's still got a lot of strengthening and filling out to do. He'll definitely be a better horse next season."
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A race at Ellerslie that promises to be a second-day highlight of the Auckland Easter carnival on April 24 is the $40,000 HIH Insurance Classic, a listed 2400m for three and 4-year-olds.
Takanini trainers Frank and Craig Ritchie won the Classic two years ago with Showella and hope to take it out again with Jockular, who downed Deune in the Schofields Holden 2100 at Ellerslie on Saturday.
According to Craig Ritchie, 3-year-old Jockular, by up-and-coming sire Manntari, was a slow learner as a 2-year-old but is now proving well above average as a stayer.
"What he has going for him is that he is tough and very determined," Ritchie said.
"He led practically all the way today, which wasn't exactly planned, because no other horse wanted the front.
"Mark Sweeney did the right thing by taking him forward, stacking them up and outsprinting them. It was a very good ride."
"What I liked, too, was Jockular's defiance when the challenges came.
"In another six months he should be even better. He's got the makings of a nice 4-year-old."
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Mark down Drama Queen as a formidable rival for Jockular at Easter.
Pukekohe trainer Richard Collett aims to give Drama Queen a lead-up to the HIH Insurance Classic at Tauranga next Saturday.
The excellent progress Drama Queen has made to 2000m, plus her near-faultless formline this season, points to her getting practically any distance.
She races for prominent Waikato owner-breeder Gerald Shand, who had a debut win with another of his breed, the Richard Collett-trained Diamond Show, at Ellerslie on Saturday.
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Te Kauwhata trainer Tony Cole accepts that Furnish needs luck to overcome the long starts he gives his rivals. Typical of a smallish, back-running sprinter, Furnish was too late unwinding to run down 10-year-old Tredunnock in the State Insurance Easter Trial over 1400m.
It was an eye-catching repeat of the 5-year-old's whirlwind finish for second to Surface in the Auto Auctions w-f-a at Otaki on February 24.
"The way he races he's always going to need luck," Cole said.
"I only hope he gets the breaks next time because he'll be going for group one again in the Easter Handicap before going for a spell."
Tredunnock's owner-trainer, Rob Travers, also has designs on the Easter Handicap.
"In all the other seasons Tredunnock has raced he's been a tired horse and over the hill at Easter time," Travers said.
"This season he hasn't had the racing to get tired because he's unsound and the tracks have been too hard for him."
"What I'd like is some rain and a cut in the track so, at last, he can have a decent crack at the Easter Handicap."
Despite his unsoundness, Tredunnock has an imposing career record of 11 wins and as many placings from only 33 starts.
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What probably eased the blow of Furnish's narrow failure on Saturday was the brilliance his 3-year-old stablemate For Love showed to win a class two 1600m.
After placings behind Jermyn Street and Emerald Dream, For Love thoroughly deserved her day in the sun, Tony Cole said.
"Everything fell into place for her this time - no Jermyn Street or Emerald Dream, a light weight and her first inside draw for quite a while. She is only a wee thing but has touches of class and quality.
For Love will race next in the Deputy Governor Trophy [a 2000m for 3-year-olds] at the Cambridge meeting at Te Rapa in a fortnight."
Racing: Stable quinella throws up questions for trainer
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