KEY POINTS:
As a rider Ron Taylor won a Melbourne Cup on Polo Prince, but it's always stayed with him that he twice finished second in the Auckland Cup, on Polo Prince and Ma Cherie.
If Gavin McKeon is a good judge Taylor might yet get the Auckland Cup prize that is absent from his trophy cabinet.
Taylor and wife Jan own a share in Italienne, who McKeon is tipping as an Auckland Cup horse after getting up in the last bound to win at Matamata on Saturday.
There is a sense of destiny about Italienne, who has been brought along very carefully and astutely by trainer Moira Murdoch.
And if the Stravinsky mare does win a big staying race, it will be the end result of a plan put in place a decade ago by Diane Reed.
Reed is a high-profile company director who chairs Waipa Networks.
She decided she wanted a mare from which she could breed a middle-distance stayer.
"After all, that's what this country is about," she said yesterday.
With Jan Taylor and Ngaire Fraser, Reed attended the Sydney Easter broodmare sale and bought Italienne's dam Farrara.
"I was prepared to go to $100,000 for the right mare, but I got Farrara on one bid for A$42,500. No one seemed to want her yet her mother Auriette had won group ones in Europe and the United States."
Farrara's first two Stravinsky colts ended up in Hong Kong and Macau and Reed decided to keep the fillies and brought the Taylors into partnership on Italienne.
"She's a big girl and she's a little offset in a knee, which is why she's trained at the beach. She's been given plenty of time," said an excited Reed.
Even though she looks as though she will develop further, Italienne is holding up well in this preparation.
She will race next on Auckland Cup Day on Wednesday week and if she copes with that she will head to the St Leger at Trentham.
* * *
It was difficult to find anyone who believed the wet track would suit Minstral Court in the $65,000 Fairview Ford Slipper.
Even rider Opie Bosson went out believing the strapping colt with the extravagant galloping action would be severely hampered.
Like everyone else, Bosson was delighted to be proved wrong as Minstral Dancer led throughout and galloped powerfully to the finish.
"He's such a big strider I was sure the track wouldn't suit him," said Bosson.
"His stride is so long you think you're going in slow motion."
But then everything on the day went right for Mark Walker's stable, Te Akau Coup taking the Breeders Stakes and Princess Coup winning the A$200,000 St George in Melbourne.
Another of Walker's runners, Tell A Tale, impressed in the way he gritted his way to the finish in the difficult footing to take fourth.
Second-placed San Bernadino tried hard to pick up the winner and Gigino impressed in finishing third.
Trainer Bruce Wallace was surprised and delighted with the colt who had raced once for an impressive win.
'I said there were two things I'd never do with this colt: race him left-handed and produce him on a wet track and where am I?
'It's left-handed and wet."
Gavin McKeon couldn't believe he ended up third on Gigino.
"He hated the ground do much he was going to run last."
* * *
Phil Stevens wanted to find out where he was with Blondie and he figured the best way was to put her in a race two grades above her rating. That would stop most horses, but it didn't stop Blondie powering to the finish when looking as though a minor place was going to be her best shot.
Blondie was a R70 horse before Saturday's race and Stevens dropped her into the much tougher R90.
"The owners had a horse in the other race [Merchandise in the R70], so I thought I'd put her in this to see where we're at," said Stevens.
"She's not bad, is she?"
In the last few strides Blondie got the better of the favourite Geordie Girl, who had looked certain to win.
* * *
Mufhasa is versatile. He doesn't mind if it's fast or wet and over the Ellerslie carnival trainer Stephen McKee will race him either at 1200m or 1600m, or possibly even both.
Mufhasa was always going to be difficult to beat at Matamata after being narrowly beaten at Te Rapa at his previous start where he covered a lot of extra ground.
He'd previously been placed on a slow track and on Saturday he powered to the front at the 300m and held on comfortably.
"At Ellerslie next week's there's a 1600m 3-year-old race and on the last day there's one at 1200m.
"You'd think that would be the other way around."
* * *
Carnegie Dancer, one of the hopefuls for the $700,000 Stella Artois Auckland Cup, was one of the first of a host of late scratchings as the Matamata track was continually downgraded.
"We wanted to pull him out early so he didn't have to have the float trip from Takanini to Matamata and back for no reason," said trainer Bruce Wallace. The stable will decided in the next few days whether Carnegie Dancer will have a final cup trial in Saturday's Cathay Pacific Nathans Memorial or go straight into the cup.
"He can back up if he needs to. A year ago he ran in the Dunstan Final at Ellerslie and won five days later at Thames and when he finished fourth in the Wellington Cup he'd raced the week before at Avondale and had a trip to Trentham."
It was a huge disappointment to see a premier meeting so decimated.
