First step to Wairoa Cup

Bruce Almighty's bid to add yet another cup to his extraordinary tally begins in tomorrow's Wairoa Business Supporters Stayers, the lead-up to the feature race of the week, Sunday's Wairoa Cup. And the Tauranga galloper's visit to Wairoa this week is not just a stop on his 2010/11 campaign - this visit carries special significance. Bruce Almighty has unfinished business at Te Kupenga.
Bruce Almighty has won a huge number of the races run in New Zealand with the word Cup in the title - Taupo, Gore and everywhere in between. But he hasn't limited himself to cups of the non-stakes variety - he's also won the Group 3 Taranaki Cup, Group 3 Canterbury Gold Cup, and he added a career-best triumph in the Group 2 Waikato Times Gold Cup in December. But the Wairoa Cup is one of the few that eludes him.
In 2008, it looked like the Cup was his. Bruce Almighty led most of the way, and although he was tackled at the turn, the tough grey gelding showed that enormous amount of courage we've come to admire. He fought I'm Isaac all the way down the Te Kupenga straight, only to be pipped at the post by a short neck.
Bruce Almighty brings impressive credentials with him in what will be his second visit to Wairoa. Now a winner of 14 races and $337,988 in stakes, he must be one of the more proven performers to race at the popular meeting. Drawn midfield and with the luxury of not carrying the top weight, Bruce Almighty's chances of kicking off his Wairoa meeting on a winning note look strong.
But although the field that will line up against the three-time stakes-winner is fairly small, it lacks nothing in quality. Regular Wairoa visitor Kevin Myers will line up two strong chances in Soph and Sparking, while the world-renowned blue and white hoops of the Vela brothers will be carried in this race by the rider of the beautifully bred Miranda Miss. And of course there is Quinn Tait, who triumphed in that unforgettable photo finish in last year's Wairoa Cup. This is a field that we would be more than happy with for the Cup itself, so to see horses of this calibre line up twice this week is going to be a real treat.
There are several other runners on the programme worth keeping an eye on. One is Pink Beach, the possibly Oaks-bound filly owned by the Vela brothers. She looks likely to start favourite in the Vista Motor Lodge 1850. The undefeated Bob Valdez, an impressive winner at Hastings late last month, takes the step up to Rating 70 grade in the Power Farming Sprint. Perhaps the best-bred runner of the day is Recording, a son of Stravinsky and former NZ Filly of the Year Singalong. Recording has finished second in four of his five starts to date, so must be due for that first win.