Sou'east going for gold at Hastings

TOUGH TIMES: Sou'east (No 7) is a sluggish starter but may show improvement at Hastings tomorrow. PHOTO/FILE.

Weather and track conditions could be the great leveller at Hastings today and if Opaki part-owner and trainer of Sou'east Grant Nicholson is happy to start the mare an upset could be on the cards.

On paper, Sou'east would hardly cause a flicker of interest but the connections of the 5-year-old have great faith in her and are not scared to enter Sou'east in rich company chasing more worthwhile stakes than are otherwise on offer.

Sou'east is entered in the feature of the day, the Hawke's Bay Gold Cup, to be run over 2200m carrying a stake of $70,000.

The mare is owned by Nicholson, Wayne Dunn, Tony Brooks and Alan Nugent who have all been friends for a good long time.

She is a sluggish starter, more often than not being one of the stragglers out of the gate and getting back in the early running.

For that reason, her 13 draw will not be a hindrance as she settles back anyway whereas several other factors will be of some assistance.

The cup field is not remarkably strong and Sou'east is on the minimum with 53kg but the biggest handicap according to her trainer would be missing a lead-up run.

Nicholson had her entered in the Manawatu Breeders last weekend and was in the birdcage with her when the meeting was abandoned with two races on the card remaining. That run would have tidied Sou'east up nicely for the Hawke's Bay Gold Cup.

Sou'east last stepped out at Awapuni on March 29 in the Group 2 Awapuni Gold Cup over the lesser distance of 2000m but never emerged and finished at the tail of the 13-horse field. She likes the Hastings course having won twice there and, on her record so far, is suited to most tracks apart from heavy, which she may strike tomorrow.

Nicholson said her lack of success on heavy going was when she was a much younger horse so time will tell if that is no longer a worry to her.

Daniel Hain, an under-rated rider able to ride at 53kg whose strike rate is not too bad at all, will take the mount. He is familiar with Sou'east having ridden her at Wanganui last November.

Nicholson said he had been happy with work put in by Sou'east this week but success in the cup will hinge on whether she really needed that lead-up run to show her best.

The only other Wairarapa-trained contestant at the meeting is Running Late in race 4, a rating85 over 1600m.

James Wallace prepares the gelding at Opaki and has reason to be optimistic over its future.

Running Late has won two and been placed a further four times in a short 13-start career. He loves it wet with his wins being on heavy going, has drawn the 2 marble and is weighed at 54kg but will nevertheless be at good odds with the likes of Broadwalk, Surreal Storm, Revelator and the local Malrose likely to dominate the betting.