Weekend racing with Iain Hyndman

Glenn Old and his talented stayer Bizzwinkle during his victorious NZ Cup campaign in November. Photo / Race Images

Iain Hyndman's Stratford Tips
1: Claddagh, Reflection, Lake Superior
2: Rock On Wood, Our King Sway, La Bella Rosa
3: Miss Altivo, Piriwai, McHale
4: Chosen Peak, Mannering, Billy Mav
5: Torre Del Grecco, Midnight Story, The Growler
6: Cleaver, Field Of Fire, Whenharrymetsaddle
7: Bizzwinkle, Hank Moody, Gorbachev
8: Hey Happy, Mr Jimmy Pocket, Cabochon
Best Bet: Rock On Wood (R2)

Diehard stayer Bizzwinkle is seeking back-to-back Ops Plumbing and Pipelines Stratford Cups (2000m) tomorrow on his way to far greater riches in the coming months.

An impressive front-running victory in the Gr.3 Christchurch Casino 155th New Zealand Cup at Riccarton in November has given Matamata trainer Glenn Old the confidence to look further afield with his son of Rip Van Winkle.

Bizzwinkle carried 56.5kg to lead all the way and win the New Zealand Cup (3200m) under the guidance of Sam Spratt, but he will be reunited with regular rider Jasmine Fawcett for tomorrow's assignment.

With Fawcett's 2kg claim, Bizzwinkle effectively only rises 1.5kg on his NZ Cup win, so is well in at the weights for a repeat of his all the way win in the Stratford Cup last season.

Bizzwinkle prefers good ground and is likely to get that with fine weather forecast and the likelihood of the Dead6 rating to improve by race time tomorrow.

Win, lose or draw at Stratford tomorrow, Old is already planning his next big mission with Bizzwinkle.

"He'll have 10 days to freshen-up then he'll have one lead-up run and go for the Wellington Cup," he said following his Riccarton win.

"He's nominated for the Auckland Cup, but if he happened to win the Wellington Cup he'd be too far up in the ratings so he could go out for a spell and we'll look at Melbourne next season for him.

"There are plenty of good staying races over 3000m and further over there for him. He doesn't need to go for the big cups."

As well as making his mark as a trainer, Old is well-known for his achievements buying and pre-training horses for the Asian market.

"I've got 25 horses in work and about 80 percent of my business is for Asian clients," he said.

"My job is to get them up and trialling and ready to be sent up to either Hong Kong, Singapore or Macau.

"It works in well as apart from the young horses I do for Asia, I also pre-train some for Chris Waller," Old said.

"I've got no more than six of my own in work. It's too hard to make a living from training on its own. I need to have the Asian business."