Racing: Te Rapa scrap whets appetite for Derby

Nothing that finished behind Wahid at Te Rapa on Saturday can beat him in the $600,000 Derby at Ellerslie.

The operative word is finished.

Abbey Drive lost rider Scott Seamer early in the Waikato Guineas and his trainer Richard Yuill has not yet conceded the Derby to Wahid.

Yuill had confidence in Abbey Drive's chances on Saturday and nothing has changed his mind.

"Having seen the race, I think he would have been very hard to beat."

Which makes Abbey Drive a realistic Derby prospect because Wahid looked stylish winning against the odds.

Trainer Allan Sharrock had wanted Wahid ridden behind the speed, but none of the opposition wanted to lead and the 3-year-old raced too keenly for Michael Coleman to be able to restrain him.

Wahid led and set himself up to be a target for the opposition, but refused to yield.

Given that he went a little fiercely for much of the race, Wahid not only did well to win, but he looked to be going far too strongly for the others in the closing stages.

There is another 400m to travel to win the Derby, but had Saturday's race been 2400m, Wahid would clearly have still won.

Given that Wahid was in the field only because Sharrock felt the horse was doing too well to follow the original programme, you would expect him to settle down with more racing.

"You can't win the Derby in front and hopefully we'll get a trail for him in his next start in the Championship Stakes at Ellerslie," said Sharrock.

Coleman was impressed, but will be replaced by regular rider, suspended Leith Innes for the Championship Stakes and the Derby.

Coleman said he had not yet taken a ride for the Derby.

TAB bookies shortened Wahid up from $6 to $4.50 for the Derby immediately after Saturday's race.

Yuill said that had Abbey Drive competed as he expected on Saturday he may not have run the improving 3-year-old again before the Derby.

"How will Saturday's incident effect his Derby preparation? I don't know, but it can't help.

"I'll probably have to run him now in the Championship Stakes."

Yuill is keen to get Galleon's Reach into the Derby, but he has to win at Ellerslie on Wednesday to have any chance of making the field after having his winning performance at Avondale last start taken off him in the inquiry room.

"If you can find anyone that thinks we should have lost that race, let me know, because I can't find anyone," said Yuill.

Of importance is that horses will need earnings of around $17,000 to make the Derby field this year, where the cut-off point for the last Derby, run on Boxing Day 2004, was closer to $7000.

"Had he kept the Avondale race he would have almost certainly already been in the Derby field and I would have run him in the Waikato Guineas.

"But I have to make sure that wherever I run him he's got a real chance to win. There was no point in him running a very good fourth or fifth in the Guineas yesterday - it wouldn't have been enough stakemoney.

"I have to run him in a grade race this week because I believe he will have a real chance when they get to the 2400m of the Derby."

Well-supported Zed (6th) and Congaline (11th) failed to inspire for the Derby.