NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Sport / Racing

Racing: December Draw ready for Cup

By Mark Ryan
AAP·
2 Oct, 2011 04:30 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Harris Tweed showed little dash in the Bart Cummings over 2500m at Flemington yesterday, in his final leadup to the the Caulfield Cup. Photo / Supplied

Harris Tweed showed little dash in the Bart Cummings over 2500m at Flemington yesterday, in his final leadup to the the Caulfield Cup. Photo / Supplied

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

December Draw held his place as Caulfield Cup favourite and moved to equal favouritism for the Melbourne Cup with a hard-fought win in the group one Turnbull Stakes at Flemington yesterday.

The European import has had six starts for trainer Mark Kavanagh for five wins, four of them on his home track of Flemington, and a second at Moonee Valley.

The 6-year-old gelding stepped up to group one level for the first time in the Turnbull and proved equal to the task in the 2000m set weights plus penalties feature.

Ridden by Michael Rodd, the $2.15 favourite settled off race leader Glass Harmonium ($8) and when Extra Zero went around him at the 1000m he enjoyed a nice trail.

December Draw wore down Glass Harmonium to score by a short-head with Playing God ($16) working home well to be two lengths away third.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

While December Draw has not raced beyond 2000m going into the 2400m Caulfield Cup, Kavanagh said he gave every indication he would run it out strongly.

"Off a fast clip today he was a sitting shot really I thought, they went pretty strong but he held on good, he had the weight advantage," Kavanagh said yesterday. "That one will bring him right on. It was a pretty tough run.

"He's only just starting to come right now so it's just keeping him right, that's what we have got to do.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Owners Richard Pegum and Gary Towzell were on hand to celebrate the victory, which followed Pegum's win with the Chris Waller-trained My Kingdom Of Fife in the Craven Plate at Randwick on Saturday.

December Draw is the $3 Caulfield Cup favourite with TAB Sportsbet and looks set to start the shortest price in the race since New Zealand galloper Suleiman ran third at $2.50 in 1975.

He firmed to $9 equal favourite with Lion Tamer for the Melbourne Cup.

"Kav has been saying I've been getting to the front too soon on him so I came into the straight and I sat up on him, thinking I had them really well covered because when you give him a squeeze he gives you four or five lengths really quickly," Rodd said.

Discover more

Racing

Racing: Auckland Reactor stuns the punters

30 Sep 04:29 PM
New Zealand

Racing: So You Think has wide draw to beat

01 Oct 07:19 PM
New Zealand

Racing: Choux shines in Classic

01 Oct 07:31 PM
Racing

Racing: Jimmy Choux outright favourite

02 Oct 04:30 PM

"But when I came around the turn he just completely switched off and I really had to wake him up, he knew he was going to be in for a fight.

"But it was like he lost his momentum and I had to get him going again."

Rodd said the gelding would appreciate the pace a bigger field would generate in the Caulfield Cup and he would be more conservative as long as he could ride him.

Rodd is banking on Americain coming out of the Caulfield Cup, forcing weights to be raised to within his range.

The Lloyd Williams team will concentrate on the Melbourne Cup with imported stayer Mourayan, winner of the Bart Cummings yesterday.

Mourayan missed Saturday's Metropolitan at Randwick in favour of the 2500m listed race and Williams' son and part-owner Nick Williams said he would also bypass the Caulfield Cup.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Williams was also full of praise for Hugh Bowman's ride, describing the Sydney rider as the best jockey in Australia after he gave the 6-year-old the run of the race from barrier one.

Williams was also effusive in his praise for Mourayan, who broke through for his first win since arriving in Australia although he was runner-up at group one level in the 2010 Metropolitan and this year's BMW.

"This horse has seriously come on," said Williams, who indicated the entire would miss the Caulfield Cup.

"I think we will probably just run him in the Melbourne Cup. He might run in the Moonee Valley Cup on the way there."

Backed from $9 to $6.50, Mourayan scored by two lengths from Niwot ($3.80 fav) with Showcause ($31) three-quarters of a length away third.

Bowman said it helped that he had already had a couple of race rides on Mourayan, who came to Australia as the winner of two races as a 2-year-old in Ireland, both at Leopardstown, including the Listed Eyrefield Stakes (1800m).

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Showcause held on gamely after being handy all the way and another Kiwi, My Scotsgrey, made ground from well back to finish just in behind the placegetters. However, last season's Caulfield Cup runnerup Harris Tweed was disappointing in a race he won last year.

He enjoyed a good run in the first half dozen all the way but never threatened in the home straight and dropped out to finish well back. He would have to make dramatic improvement to be a threat at Caulfield on November 15.

Williams was also to the fore earlier in the day with 3-year-old Collar. Having only his third race start, the son of O'Reilly and 1999 Caulfield Cup placegetter Laebeel was dominant as he raced away to a 1-length-win in the listed Westfield Doncaster Stakes (1400m).

Nick Hall rode the lightly raced gelding, who made it look like a track gallop as he sat second, a length outside the leader First Course, before drawing clear of that horse to win as he liked.

Country-trained Hell's Kitchen finished strongly on the outside from last to finish third.

Nick Williams, who part-owns Collar with his father, said the gelding was still in the Caulfield Guineas but was unlikely to run.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I will leave that to Dad but I thought at this point, given he's had three starts, that probably it might be a bit much for him but he will decide that during the week," Williamssaid.

"He is a big, raw sort of horse and has a great staying future ahead of him."

- AAP

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Racing

Racing

Forsman looking to cap record season as he looks forward to the next one

Racing

'I got my ear sewed back on': Jockey has no memory of being kicked in head by horse

Racing

Mick On Monday: Wood's feeling Smug after making brave call


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Racing

Forsman looking to cap record season as he looks forward to the next one
Racing

Forsman looking to cap record season as he looks forward to the next one

The Cambridge trainer eyes his best solo term ahead of the promise of a strong spring.

15 Jul 05:00 PM
'I got my ear sewed back on': Jockey has no memory of being kicked in head by horse
Racing

'I got my ear sewed back on': Jockey has no memory of being kicked in head by horse

14 Jul 02:32 AM
Mick On Monday: Wood's feeling Smug after making brave call
Racing

Mick On Monday: Wood's feeling Smug after making brave call

13 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP