Racing: The unorthodox pays off for Wheeler

We've said it before, but it needs to be said again, John Wheeler is different.

The Taranaki trainer cannot spell orthodox and if he could he wouldn't have won Saturday's $200,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Breeders Stakes at Te Aroha with Juice.

Juice may now be approaching half a million dollars in earnings, but her lead-up form to Saturday's feature was hardly what you'd expect from a mare on the verge of her first group one victory.

John Wheeler does not focus on such things.

Three starts back, Juice beat an average field at Te Rapa over 2000m then she failed to pick up Spectacular Icon at Matamata.

Last start, even with 59kg, you would have expected she could beat Dadzadreamer at Ellerslie if she was to be even a remote chance in a group one. Even the 2200m she raced over that day was hardly an ideal lead-up to Saturday's 1600m.

Yet Wheeler had Juice so fit for her big assignment - possibly because of those distances - she covered ground around the home turn, but was still able to power up the centre of the track for a no-arguments' victory.

Last season, Wheeler went to the unusual again with Juice's programme.

He ran her in both the 1000 Guineas and 2000 Guineas, a week apart then ran her in both the Derby at Ellerslie and the Oaks at Trentham.

Then he took her to Brisbane for the Doomben Roses and Queensland Oaks.

It was significant that Hayden Tinsley rode Juice on Saturday - it was Tinsley and Daffodil that denied Juice her first real group one opportunity when Juice finished second in the 1000 Guineas at Riccarton.

Juice's owners, Graeme Kissick and Robyn Simes, marvel at what Wheeler has done with their $15,000 yearling buy that has been transformed into one extremely valuable broodmare.

After leading, Culminate was exceptionally brave in finishing second, having been softened up by Ruud Van Slaats early in the race.

She managed to kick clear early in the home straight, but couldn't withstand the finishing punch of Juice after the amount of energy that had been spent early.

Obsession confirmed the extreme promise her camp have predicted by finishing strongly into third after trailing Culminate.

Early in the home straight, there was a marginal gap outside Culminate for Obsession to progress forward which eventually widened to a full gap.

However as Obsession's rider Michael Coleman attempted to push forward, Culminate moved out away from the inside to a significant degree, taking Obsession with her.

This resulted in fourth-placed Sharp Princess being hampered.

Sharp Princess' connections asked to view the stewards' footage of the incident, but decided not to protest.

Obsession's connections also dropped thoughts of a possible protest against Culminate after viewing the same footage.

Lady Chaparral went massive for a two-win horse in finishing 2.9 length off the winner in fifth place.

Melbourne mare Emblem Of Glory went just an even race after having a beautiful trip behind the speed and her stablemate and last year's winner Dane Julia only battled down the outside with Michael Walker being of the opinion she may have been feeling the too firm surface.

Boundless, Veloce Bella and Ruud Van Slaats, in being the last three home, each raced lengths off their best form.

Rider Jason Waddell could not come up with an excuse for New Zealand filly Keep The Peace failing in Saturday's A$1.3 million AJC Derby and

John Sargent was of a similar opinion with Hong Kong-bound Handsome Zulu.

However, yesterday morning, Keep The Peace came out with a significant Nasal discharge.

"There was no sign of it yesterday," said trainer Shaune Ritchie.

"She paraded magnificently and even when that horse was scratched at the barriers and the field had to be reloaded, she was one of only two or three that didn't break into a sweat.

"Whether it affected her performance or not we'll never know, but she's got a decent cold this morning so obviously something was brewing.

"We'll lick our wounds, head home and aim her for Melbourne in the spring."

Stud-bound Tavistock failed to show up in the A$500,000 Darley Stakes (1200m).

Tavistock was the last on settling, but was never far off the leaders in the seven-horse field and on an unsuitable slow to dead track could not make ground on the front runners in the closing stages.