KEY POINTS:
John Wheeler asked a strange question.
It was in reply to a question of how he sees his horse Maximabeel in the $50,000 Dunstan Feeds Waikato Hurdles at Te Rapa tomorrow.
"What'd he draw?" asked Wheeler.
"Um, four, but this is a 3200m hurdle race."
"I'm big on horses drawing in close in hurdle races, specially when they're not rock-hard fit," said Wheeler, who leaves little to chance with his team.
"A nice draw means he can be right in the firing line and he should get a nice trail.
"That's going to be important to him because he's not that fit, but I suppose most of them are in the same boat." Maximabeel goes into tomorrow's feature race with an impressive stats line of three wins from four hurdle starts.
The prospect of a decent track should suit.
"He's not really a mudder," said Wheeler.
"He won on a good slow track on the flat at New Plymouth last Saturday and that is his preferred footing."
It was a competitive field Maximabeel beat at the weekend and showed him to be in great heart to resume his jumping career.
He will be ridden by Richard Eynon, who these days works for the Wheeler stable.
The conditions will allow Wanganui visitor Wolf Pack his chance.
His two jumping wins toward the end of last winter were both on tracks officially dead and he looks ideally suited this time.
He should be hard fit after three flat runs this preparation.
Yourtheman's two flat races this campaign have been promising. On the strength of a close fourth when resuming at Trentham, he started favourite at Woodville last start and although only fourth, turned in a useful performance.
His record of three wins and four placings from eight domestic hurdle starts deserves respect.
Nufsed went well enough when a close second to Ravanelli on this track a few weeks ago to be rated a chance, although he would prefer wet conditions. Southerner Dan Moran is also a chance.
