Tas Man Bromac aims for Roxburgh Cup

Fans of Tas Man Bromac should stick with the ship.

That is the advice from his trainer/driver Nathan Williamson ahead of today's Roxburgh Cup at the racecourse near the Teviot Valley township.

The son of American Ideal surprised punters in the Gore Cup last week, breaking at the start before recovering to finish third behind Pulp Fiction.

Williamson said the 4-year-old may have been found out by a shortage of fitness taking on smart types like Pulp Fiction.

"No excuses, he did a bit of work, but he was beaten fairly and squarely by the two others. On paper he lacked race fitness and that's sort of the way it proved."

Tas Man Bromac had seven weeks between race starts, after running second to Maverick at Addington on New Zealand Cup day, so Williamson was not surprised Pulp Fiction's winning time of 3.20.9 at Gore was slightly beyond Tas Man Bromac. "When they're going a 1.59 mile rate, it probably exposed him a little bit, but his work has been very sharp since."

Tas Man Bromac starts alongside I'm Full Of Excuses off the 20m handicap, and Williamson sees the Clark Barron-trained pacer as his main threat.

"Clark's horse and my fella - there's never been much between them." Williamson has several other leading chances on the day, including Bernie Winkle in race 9, immediately following the Roxburgh Cup.

Bernie Winkle scored back-to-back wins before running second to Stanley Ross Robyn at Winton last Tuesday.

McKenzie Mara (race 3) drew the second line but "shouldn't be a maiden for long" after finishing second behind First Son at Gore on debut.

The best of the rest? A maiden trotter by the name of She's Allthe Craze in race 2.

"That's all you need," Williamson said with a smile on his face.