After the recent winning bags by Warren Kennedy (seven) and Opie Bosson (five) at premier Pukekohe meetings and still plenty of other group 1-level jockeys headed by two-time premiership winner Michael McNab, punters will be spoilt for choices to be their fan favourite come Millions night.
“That is the way it should be,” says Poetic Champion’s trainer Tony Pike.
“The Millions is a huge meeting now and all over the world the big carnivals attract overseas jockey so we are thrilled to get Jamie and having her here will be great for the meeting.”
Poetic Champion will be at Ellerslie this morning (Monday) for a track gallop to get familiarised with Ellerslie, which re-opens on Sunday after nearly two years away from racing for the installation of a StrathAyr track.
This Sunday’s meeting may have a soft opening feel but will still have Legarto and Sharp N Smart racing in the open 1400m.
Poetic Champion is rated a $10 chance by the TAB for the Millions, with that market headed by Velocious, who moved from $4 to $3.50 after McDonald was confirmed as her rider.
Maher targets Ellerslie
There is nothing unusual about Ciaron Maher coming to Auckland in late January but he doesn’t usually bring a horse with him.
He will this year though as Maher and training partner David Eustace looks set to have Holymanz in the $1million Aotearoa Classic on Millions night.
The son of Almanzor won the A$300,000 Coastal Classic at Geelong on Saturday and owners Cambridge Stud’s chief executive Henry Plumtree says the trip is highly likely.
“If he pulls up as we hope and trots up well he will be coming,” says Plumtree.
“And if he comes Warren (Kennedy) will take the ride.”
The Maher/Eustace stable has become one of the great powerhouses of Australian racing, albeit one soon to change as Eustace moves to Hong Kong to train.
The stable has regularly bought at the Karaka sales, which start the day after the Millions, but they have very rarely had any racing representation here.
Holymanz was a highly-promising three-year-old last year until he season came to a sudden holt when he fell in the Australian Guineas won by Legarto, losing his confidence.
He has come back to his best this summer though, winning on Oaks Day at Flemington and is the $8 equal third favourite for the Aotearoa Classic.
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.
