Racing: Tauranga Stakes should be breeze for Mufhasa

Mufhasa. Photo / Sarah Ivey

You would have got some colourful quotes mid-week from the connections of Mufhasa's rivals in the $70,000 Stella Artois Tauranga Stakes (1600m) today.

The seven-time group one winner was the last runner anyone expected to see slumming it in modest group three company - his Ardmore trainer Stephen McKee included.

A brave last-start winner of the group one Toorak Handicap (1600m) at Caulfield, the seven-year-old warhorse was supposed to back up in the A$1 million ($1.3 million) Emirates Stakes at Flemington last Saturday.

Failing that, he had also been tagged as a possible rival for Cambridge miler He's Remarkable in the group one A$1 million Railway Handicap (1600m) in Perth on November 19.

But first a minor hoof abscess robbed him of an Emirates start and then McKee had a last-minute re-think about making the long flight to Perth.

"A couple of things put me off Perth," said McKee yesterday.

"One is the fact it's a handicap and the other thing is there's still a long year to go yet.

"Going that far to Perth can knock you around a bit and could take a little while to come to form again especially when carrying 59kg or so.

"He would have got about the same for the Emirates and that didn't look like a race that suited him in the end the way they raced it."

McKee said the relatively soft Tauranga option today - Mufhasa's last nine races have been in group one company - was the only logical alternative for the $2.6 million earner.

He needs a tune-up run before his main New Zealand target before the end of the year, the group one Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) at Trentham on December 3.

"Tomorrow [Saturday] is the perfect lead-up; hopefully he'll be able to win both," said McKee.

Although a far better horse left-handed, the Tauranga feature should still be a formality for the $1.50 fixed odds fancy and regular rider Sam Spratt.

The only rival with recent weight-for-age form is last-start Te Hana Sparkling Stakes (2000m) upsetter Duckworth Lewis.

Byerley Park trainer Leo Molloy had hoped the Tauranga Stakes would be another case of "low hanging fruit" for his promising three-year-old.

But that was before Mufhasa's entry; even with the 7kg weight difference it's hard to see Duckworth Lewis humbling a horse of his calibre.

McKee's only other entry today Release Me, raced by his parents, also has a next-up group one target, the $250,000 Levin Classic (1600m) at Otaki on November 25.

He looked a promising type as a juvenile - he beat Dowager Queen in quitting maiden class and struck major traffic problems next-up in the Karaka Million. But his two starts as a three-year-old have been a shade disappointing, the most recent of which was for fourth behind stablemate Orinda at Te Awamutu.

"His last start was second-up and he'd had a bit of a break after his first up effort," said McKee.

"In saying that we still thought he would have gone better.

"Leith [Innes] thought that maybe he wasn't giving 100 per cent so we put the blinkers on to sharpen him up. He could beat those if he's right on his game and with a good draw he would have to if he's worthy of taking to Levin."

Ready Steady, the topweight and likely favourite in the intriguing $11,000 John Warren Insurance Three-Year-Old today, also has the Otaki feature in his sights.