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Cambridge trainer Roger James celebrated one of the most dominant wins of his career on the weekend.
Then he went racing.
James did not train any racehorses to win on Saturday - not that he had a lot of racing - but he left Te Rapa a happy man after his Melbourne Cup-qualified stayer Mark Twain did exactly what was expected of him in his first public trial.
Which is not much.
Melbourne Cup contenders fresh up in 1100m trials on wet tracks aren’t really expected to be a factor and so was the case as Mark Twain settled back in the heat won by Sacred Satono and started to warm up through and after the line.
But while Te Rapa was the first step down a path to Flemington on November 5, the victories James and wife Sally enjoyed the night before were recognition for a far longer, harder slog.
Mark and trainers Roger James (Left) and Robert Wellwood (right) get an early look at the Melbourne Cup held by retired champion jockey Damien Oliver. Photo / Angelique Bridson.
The couple has spent much of the past four years planning, and watching, the building of their dream home six minutes from the Cambridge track.
As anybody who has been part of that process will know, there are more bad phone calls then good when building a house, but on Friday night their new home won multiple awards at the Master Builders Waikato House of the Year Awards, including the Supreme House of the Year award.
“It was a very special night,” says James, standing in the lounge of their pride and joy.
“It (the house) actually won a few different awards and while it was a long process and nearly sent us broke we are very proud.”
As huge an honour as that is, it is not entirely surprising. James has always been all about the small details, from his own dress sense and professionalism on race day to the planning of campaigns.
It was the patience he and training partner Robert Wellwood showed with Orchestral when her spring derailed last year that ultimately set her up to win Three-Year-Old of the Year at a very different awards ceremony in a few weeks, Horse of the Year on September 8.
By then Mark Twain will have been back at the races but not in New Zealand, as he heads straight to Melbourne guaranteed a start in the Melbourne Cup courtesy of his win in the A$500,000 Roy Higgins at Flemington in March.
“We are really happy with him but you don’t expect them to be showing up much in 1100m trials,” James says.
“He is ready to go to the races. We have a 1500m at The Valley on August 24, then a 1700m at Flemington on September 14, all going well.”
Safely through those, Mark Twain tentatively has a 2000m race planned back at Flemington and maybe a Geelong Cup over 2400m on October 23 as his final Melbourne Cup lead-up.
Ex-pat jockey Michael Dee, who rode Mark Twain to win the Roy Higgins, is booked to ride at the start of the Victorian campaign with an eye to the Cup ride.
Mark Twain is rated a $26 chance in the Cup by the TAB, which puts him on the fourth line of betting, with those markets to be impacted by first the release of the weights, then spring form and ultimately which overseas horses actually land in Australia.
While Mark Twain is shooting for the stars this spring, the absolute star of the James/Wellwood stable Orchestral will be aimed at a less glamorous treble.
“We want to give her as easy a spring as we can and set her up for the autumn,” James says.
“At this stage, we have three fillies and mares races in Sydney as her targets, not big Group 1s, because we are very aware how hard it can be for four-year-old mares in the spring.
“She will trial here before heading to Sydney but she definitely won’t have a big spring.”
Alabama Lass set for Taupō return as Legarto heads to rehab
Outstanding race mare Legarto could miss the entire spring after a muscle issue following her trial win at Te Rapa last week.
Co-trainer Ken Kelso has withdrawn the multiple Group 1 winner from the Hawkes Bay Triple Crown races after she was found to have a pulled muscle over the weekend.
“She will go to rehab for a while and we will know more in two weeks.
“But she will definitely miss all three days at Hastings and she could even miss the entire spring.”
Legarto looked superb in her trial win last Tuesday and was equal favourite with Crocetti for the Tarzino Trophy, the first Group 1 of the season on September 7.
The news is better with her talented three-year-old filly stablemate Alabama Lass, who resumes at Taupō next week on a path that could take her to the 1000 Guineas, a race Legarto won two years ago.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
