Racing: Time for Christen Me to emerge from ruck

Dalgety trains Christen Me, who has won two of his three starts this campaign.

Cran Dalgety has at least some idea of what All Blacks coach Steve Hansen is going through.

Both Cantabrians are in charge of the favourites for their sport's greatest trophy to be decided in a few weeks, both of them in winning form and yet still not totally convincing.

And Dalgety, almost certainly like Hansen, hopes this weekend leaves him feeling a little more comfortable about the month ahead.

Dalgety trains Christen Me, who has won two of his three starts this campaign yet has drifted in the market to win the $750,000 New Zealand Cup at Addington on November 10.

Even though he is still winning a lot more than he loses, Christen Me's recent shock defeat at Oamaru and the fact he has been run close in his other two wins this campaign has seen plenty of doubters emerge about him, questioning whether he is as dominant as last season or simply feeling his age.

Dalgety, like Hansen, is staying relaxed - at least publicly - and hoping to peak at the right time.

"He has been a bit fatter than I would have liked but I am doing a few different things with him and he is getting very close to his peak," says Dalgety.

"The last week he has gone to the beach a couple of times where he gets ridden around and it has been a good freshen-up for him.

"He is a 7-year-old now and sometimes he must look at the training track and think, 'not again'.

"So, by getting him out to the beach I hope it might mentally freshen him up. I would actually liked to have gone really old school with him and started jogging him around the grass verges on the roads down here but with so many huge trucks rolling past these days that wouldn't have lasted long," says Dalgety.

The benefits of that beach regime should become more evident this Friday when Christen Me starts from the ace in the $40,000 Canterbury Classic, in which he could either confirm his NZ Cup favouritism or even lose it, which would have seemed near impossible a month ago.

His opposition steps up a notch this week as Cup second favourite Smolda returns, although he faces a second-line draw and therefore a huge task to down Christen Me fresh up.

But if Smolda does come from behind the Cup favourite to beat him, the market will change dramatically.

The Classic also contains Tiger Tara, who pushed Christen Me so close last start, and last season's impressive 3-year-old Brilliant Strike, whose best chance of securing a NZ Cup start would be a placing this week as the first three home are guaranteed a place.

Also returning on Friday night is last season's 2-year-old of the year Chase The Dream, who starts in a small Sires' Stakes heat dominated by the Purdon-Rasmussen stable.

Missing from Friday night's meeting is Stent, who, after a sensational comeback win last Friday, has been allowed to miss the Canterbury Park Trotting Cup because of his 30m handicap.