Racing: Tokoroa trainers looking to turn heads at Kiwifruit Cup in Tauranga

Mubs Kareem's claim will aid My Gift today. Photo / Race Images

It is not often you read these words but today they are true: the Tokoroa trainers could be worth following at today's Tauranga meeting.

Horse racing is not the first thing that comes to mind when most people think of Tokoroa and even hardened punters probably don't realise there is an 1800m training track just outside the South Waikato town.

Run by the South Waikato Racing Club, who race once a year at Matamata, and on land shared with a dairy farmer, the track is home to nine horses. Kind of.

"I have three horses in work here, Kylie Whiting has about four and my wife Andrea has two," says 75-year-old Tokoroa trainer John Mason.

"But my wife's horses are endurance horses, so you can't really count them."

For a training track with seven active horses, Tokoroa is punching above its weight today as Mason has My Gift as favourite for the $30,000 Kiwifruit Cup, one of the features to be run on a heavy11 track at Gate Pa in Tauranga.

A race later, Whiting has last-start winner El Coolio in the last on the card, although his heavy track form is not as proven as My Gift.

Still, two serious chances in 40 minutes is a big day for Tokoroa's two-person training community.

Mason believes the 3kg claim of apprentice Mubs Kareem will enormously aid My Gift, who five years ago won a two-year-old race at Epsom, home of the English Derby, in a career that has taken him through Hong Kong and ultimately to being a short-priced favourite for Tokoroa's horse of the year.

"Having the apprentice on helps for sure and 59kg is a good weight in this field because it doesn't look super strong," says Mason.

My Gift is also helped by the fact the next two favourites both carry their full 54kg with senior jockeys rather than the claimers which have been so potent carrying 51 or 52kg since racing's winter return.

"I think it is a good race for him and he is a real winter galloper so the heavy helps us. He has to go close."

As talented and well-travelled as My Gift is, he isn't the star of the show at Tauranga today as local hero Roger That returns in his first start since winning the Auckland Cup in March.

He has to carry 62kg today over 1600m, a distance he has tackled only once in the last three years but he was sharp enough to finish second in the Group 3 OMF Stakes at Ellerslie over the w-f-a 2000m last November.

Roger That is an old-fashioned New Zealand stayer and a big showing today would not surprise. But he has to give his rivals at least 8kg with horses such as Cheval Prometteur, Inscription and Ocean Billy good enough to exploit that advantage.

Best bets:

Graeme Rogerson: "Masque (Tauranga R4, No 10) is going well and had no chance last start at Taupo."

Stephen Ralph: "Marley (Tauranga R3, No 9) is a sister to Speedy Meady with plenty of ability even though she is a bit green."

Tony Pike: "Divine Dive (Tauranga, R4, No 1) is my only starter but handles the wet and as long as the inside of the track holds up will be hard to beat."

Michael Pitman: "Nellie By (Riccarton, R7, No 7). Consistent mare who loves this track so this is her chance to shine."

Andrew Carston: "Miss Oaks (Riccarton, R4, No 9) is an unlucky mare I can't believe is still a maiden, and will appreciate step up in trip."