KEY POINTS:
Sly Flyin will perform just about the bravest feat of any horse this Auckland Cup week at Alexandra Park tonight.
He will walk on to the racetrack.
While that is what racehorses do, Sly Flyin shouldn't be able to do it.
The 8-year-old will once again prove a
giant heart can make up for four bad legs when he takes on the hottest field of any racing code this week in the $400,000 Trillian Trust Auckland Trotting Cup.
A one-time champion youngster, Sly Flyin has spent the past five years overcoming his body's frailties.
His first major leg problem came when he was a 3-year-old on the doorstep of greatness and he has experienced more bad days than good since.
Because a racehorse can weigh 500kg yet carries that weight at great speed on legs skinnier then the human wrist, any little fault eventually becomes a major problem, which often ends a horse's career.
In Sly Flyin's case, his problems just made him determined.
"He is remarkable because no other horse could race with the problems he has had," says his top fan and caretaker trainer Michelle Wallis.
"So many times we have thought, 'There is no way he can make it back this time', and he has. I have been around horses my whole life and never seen another one like him.
"With sound legs, he would have been a champion. But to us he already is a champion anyway because we know what he has been through."
Sly Flyin's battle with soreness got so bad two seasons ago that his results were a joke.
Trainer Tony Herlihy sent him to Wallis, who specialises in beach-training problem horses, and between them they rejuvenated his career.
Two months later he finished second to pacing hero Elsu in the Interdominion Pacing Final and later that year beat some of the best pacers in Australia. Then just days before the 2005 Miracle Mile he broke down again with an injury that should have ended his career. Yet he picked himself up and 10 months later started a winning rampage at home that culminated in his winning the $125,000 New Zealand Free-For-All at Addington in November, beating tonight's cup favourite, Flashing Red.
That moved Herlihy to rate Sly Flyin among the three best horses he had driven.
"What he could have been - would have been - with good legs is scary," said Herlihy, who has driven seven Auckland Cup winners.
But it wasn't long before Sly Flyin's nemesis visited him again.
"We detected another leg problem in January and thought we would miss this cup, but he recovered again," Wallis said. "I don't know how he keeps doing it. It can only be his heart, because his body is a mess."
Tonight Sly Flyin faces a wide barrier draw and, with only one lead-up race, will need another miracle.
"No matter how bad he is, he tries to forget about it on race night," Wallis said. "When he goes on to the track you can see him put his ears forward and his head up as if to say, 'Right, this is where I belong'."
What's On
Today
The $400,000 Trillian Trust Auckland Trotting Cup will be run at Alexandra Park at 9.50 tonight.
Admission and parking are free.
The meeting, which will also feature superstars One Dream and Allegro Agitato, starts with the first race at 5.42pm.
All races will be shown live on Trackside.
Tomorrow
Diamond Day at Ellerslie Racecourse, with fashion police rounding up suspects to win a $26,000 diamond ring. Racing starts at 12.30pm.