The question of who leads tomorrow’s Tapanui Cup looks harder to answer than deciding on which horse may win the $55,000 feature.
A collection of front-running specialists are set to vie for the lead in the 2000m race at the 150th anniversary meeting of the Tapanui Racing Club.
Both Camino Rocosso and Come Fly With Me produced big feature wins after leading in their last starts.
Camino Rocosso turned the Cromwell Cup in to a one-horse affair when leading by a big margin in the middle stages before going on to win.
The John and Karen-trained galloper has been on the speed in all his starts this campaign and looks set to push forward at the start again tomorrow.
Camino Rocosso and Shezatoucha give the Parsons stable a strong hand.
Shezatoucha is also in excellent form and also likes to race on the pace. The mare ran third at Riccarton in her last start behind Zentessa, who has been scratched from tomorrow’s
race.
Come Fly With Me was in her favourite position when leading all the way for a big win in last weekend’s Southland Crystals at Ascot Park.
The Stephen Blair-Edie trained mare relished racing on a slow track and should get similar conditions tomorrow after a week of wet southern weather.
Riviera Rock raced on the speed outside Come Fly With Me in the Southland Crystals.
The Graham and Michael Eade trained 5yr-old is another horse that could get involved in what should be a fast run to the first turn.
Irish Excuse has the zip in his legs to jump well and put himself in the race. He ran second in the 1200m feature sprint at Ascot Park last weekend.
The Ellis Winsloe trained 9yr-old old will jump up sharply in distance to attempt to win his first 2000m event in more than four years tomorrow.
And if the horse is able to do it, he will complete a massive journey from producing the star sprinting effort of the Grand National Carnival to winning one of Southland’s best middle-distance races in the same campaign.
That mission began shortly after Irish Excuse produced his crushing 1200m win at Riccarton in August, when racing fresh up and giving away an advantage of at least 6kg to all his rivals.
“It all started in the spring, really,” Winsloe said.
“He had a couple of starts with [apprentice jockey] Corey Campbell on him and he didn’t pull like he usually does in the sprint races, so we started working towards this race from there.”
Irish Excuse’s only win over 2000m came when he led for Chris Johnson in an open handicap in 2015.
Dropping the bit and settling will be the key to Irish Excuse’s chances tomorrow if rider Kylie Williams can get the horse involved in the early battle for the front.
“I am hopeful he will be able to drop the bit. Kylie has won on him plenty of times,” Winsloe said.
“He is going well enough; he just keeps ticking over.”
“I usually have him in the paddock by now but with the soft tracks around I have just kept him going.”
Gallant Boy and Picture Me Rollin look two horses who are likely to stay out of the early rush in the Tapanui Cup.
Gallant Boy will be out to bounce back from his disappointing run in the Cromwell Cup.
Picture Me Rollin steps up to 2000m for the first time tomorrow. The fast-finishing mare produced a big win over 1600m at Ascot Park last weekend.
