HORSE RACING - Maximum Star could twinkle

MAXIMUM STAR is something of a forgotten horse. Even last season, when he was racing in the best form of his career to date and won two stakes races in succession in blistering time, he wasn't regularly mentioned as being in the top half-dozen sprinters in the country.
That could all change at his home track tomorrow, as he takes on the Mudgway Stakes - in an attempt to become the first Hastings-trained runner to win the race - and looks to get the spring racing carnival off to an unforgettable and triumphant start for Hawke's Bay.
You may remember the reception local stayer The Veep received after winning the Group 2 Hawke's Bay Gold Cup last year. That would go to another level if a local took out one of the "big three" Group 1 features.
Maximum Star has his work cut out for him in a race that includes seven individual Group 1 winners, but has been greatly assisted by the barrier draw.
While most of the big names have ended up in the backyards of houses lining the back straight, Maximum Star has drawn gate two.
This should give Darryl Bradley plenty of options in looking for a cosy trip as some of the speed horses look to work across from their wide gates.
The draw really couldn't have been better for the Patrick Campbell-trained runner.
So why is he rated only a $16 chance? He's only finished outside the first five four times in his 22 career starts, and the fact that he has run 1200m in 1:07.17 and 1400m in 1:20.41 suggests he doesn't lack in terms of the brilliance needed to be competitive at this level.
It is true, however, that there are some exceptional horses standing in Maximum Star's way.
None fit that description more than the 2008-09 Horse of the Year, Mufhasa.
A winner of five stakes races last year, Mufhasa moved from an above average talent to one of the best male sprinters New Zealand has seen in the last decade in a matter of months.
His win in the $1 million Telegraph Handicap at Trentham will live on in the memory long after his racing career ends.
Such is the regard in which he is held that despite the far from ideal wide barrier draw, the TAB simply can't afford to offer a price higher than $2.50 for the Stephen McKee-trained favourite.
If he can overcome the draw and hold this excellent field at bay down the Hastings straight tomorrow, there will be no doubt that he will have earned his place on the Mudgway winners list with such illustrious company as Sunline, Miss Potential, Xcellent and Seachange.
One who has already earned his place on that list is last year's winner, Fritzy Boy, who suggested with a first-up win at Foxton this month the form that saw him triumph this race 12 months ago isn't far away.
He has fared even worse than Mufhasa in the barrier draw, ending up with gate 19, but if anyone can give a horse a good run from there, Michael Walker can.
At last winter is drawing to an end and the day that has seemed so far away has arrived.
The Mudgway has drawn a field every bit as good as we imagined, and now it remains to be seen whether the crowd will be cheering for a local victory, an overdue Group 1 win for tough old warrior Bulginbaah, a first step towards defending his the Horse of the Year title, a repeat win by Fritzy Boy to join Seachange as the only dual winners of the race, or a sensational win by one of the other super-talented contenders.
Whoever it is that receives the applause, they'll have earned it.