Racing: Strong field contest Northland Cup

NAG 05Sep17 - HOME RUN: Prom Queen pulled off a phenomenal performance to win on her home track. PHOTO/RACE IMAGES HBG 15Sep17 - HOME RUN: Prom Queen won well on her home track. PHOTO/R

The Dargaville Racing Club's Northland Cup will be run todayat Ruakaka racecourse with a very competitive field and runners who have shown a strong liking for the local track.

The Dargaville committee will be on course to present the perpetual trophy and adorn the horse with its celebratory rug.

There will be ample speed in the race with Charlie Farley, a winner of two starts by leading, and the front-running Te Waewae Bay engaged.

Other good course winners in the $20,000 feature include locally-trained Spider, Greencast and Toorak Tower. Last-start winner Creative Genius, to be ridden by leading rider Alysha Collett, is another strong chance.

Whangarei Racing Club Chairman Shayne Heape has two runners on the card - the very promising Hello It's Me and Rikki Tikki Tavi, who has a horror outside draw in the last race, Christmas at the Races Dec 19 over 1200m.

With his pending retirement from the board at the club's Annual Members Meeting on November 19 this meeting will be his last as chairman since taking over in November 2013. A fitting swansong would be a winner on the day and no doubt Hello It's Me will be starting a much shorter price than Rikki Tikki Tavi.

The stable of Bruce Wallace and Allan Peard, who are regular Ruakaka visitors, has very strong representation in the two 1200m maiden events.

In the Fell Engineering maiden they are represented by Corporate Raider and in the Croft Poles Maiden by One Bakerstreet, who is part owned in Kerikeri. Both runners have been recent trial winners and One Bakerstreet has the ace draw.

An interesting local runner in the Fell Engineering maiden will be the Kim O'Riley-trained Rakau Whero who was given the target of tackling Prom Queen in open three-year-old company back in early September and finished a very creditable fourth before taking on the best in the Northland Breeders Stakes.

With those runs and a freshen up, the Redwood gelding who holds a nomination for the NZ Derby could be one to watch.

A number of locals will miss today's racing as they have headed down to be the support crew for the Rae Racing stables who tackle two of the features races at Riccarton tomorrow.

Local glamour filly Prom Queen will start a very short price favourite in the $300,000 Gavelhouse.com NZ 1000 Guineas over 1600m. With Alysha Collett aboard, the filly has her first start beyond 1400m and there were many predicting last season she wouldn't win beyond 1000m.

The race will be her greatest challenge with a filly like Swing Note from the leading Autridge/Richards stable and the Dennis Brothers'-trained The Sparkle having shown potential at the distance.

With barrier one and the set weights Prom Queen will get her best chance to win at the distance despite not having a run since October 21.

Weight will be more of an issue for the Rae-trained Kaharau in the $250,000 Christchurch Casino NZ Cup over 3200m. Nicely drawn and to be ridden also by Alysha Collett, Kaharau will carry topweight of 59kg, along with Pentathalon who ran third in the Lexus at Flemington at its last start.

The minimum weight is a high 53.5kg and this reflects the lack of quality in the time-honoured race.

Pentathalon is the only proven runner to handle 3200mand if he has handled the travel back from Australia he will be very hard to be beat.