Fans of Tas Man Bromac should stick with the ship.
That is the advice from his trainer-driver, Nathan Williamson, for today's Roxburgh Cup at Roxburgh Raceway.
The son of American Ideal surprised punters in the Gore Cup last week, breaking at the start before recovering to finish third behind Pulp Fiction.‘‘I thought I had him pretty well going into the races,'' Williamson said.
‘‘No excuses. He did a bit of work, but he was beaten fairly and squarely by the two others [Pulp Fiction and I'm Full Of Excuses]. On paper he lacked race fitness and that's sort of the way it proved.''
Tas Man Bromac had seven weeks between race starts, after running second to Maverick at Addington on New Zealand Cup day, so Williamson was not surprised Pulp Fiction's winning time of 3.20.9 at Gore was slightly beyond his horse.
‘‘When they're going a 1.59 mile rate, it probably exposed him a little bit, but his work has been very sharp since.''
Tas Man Bromac starts alongside I'm Full Of Excuses off the 20m handicap, and Williamson sees the Clark Barron-trained pacer as his main threat.
‘‘I've got big respect for the opposition. There are some nice horses in there. Clark's horse and my fella - there's never been much between them.''
Williamson has several other leading chances today, including Bernie Winkle in race 9.
Bernie Winkle scored back-to-back wins then ran second to Stanley Ross Robyn at Winton last Tuesday.
‘‘I thought his run, even though he got beat at Wairio, was better than his win at Gore.
‘‘He got all the breaks and Gore and he didn't get much luck at Wairio. Doing work isn't his favourite caper, but he can probably do a bit of work in the grade he's in.''
The son of Rock N Roll Heaven has been a difficult drive at times,
but he seems to have matured with each race.
‘‘He's toughening up all the time and he's pretty tractable now, which helps.''
McKenzie Mara (race 3) drew the second line but ‘‘shouldn't be a maiden for long'' after finishing second to First Son at Gore on debut.
‘‘She was a wee bit disappointing first up, but first up they can all do that,'' Williamson said. She would ‘‘probably have a wee break after Roxburgh''.
The best of the rest? A maiden trotter by the name of She's Allthe Craze in race 2.
‘‘That's all you need,'' he said. The club originally scheduled 11 races, but gained approval to run 12 after strong nominations. The first race is at 12.25pm.
