While Sassy Lass hasn’t won a race this campaign, she isn’t alone in that regard in today’s field.
Yet Scott is full of confidence even after a battling last-start eighth in the Counties Cup, the most obvious form reference.
“Forget the Counties Cup, they just went way too slow and it didn’t suit her at all,” explains the Matamata trainer.
“But she was also eighth in the Counties Cup last year and then came out and finished a big second in this race.
“This year we think she is a better chance because she has been set for this race, not like last year when she raced all through the winter and this was a bonus race.
“If there is more tempo she will get her chance and we think she can go one better than last year.”
While Sharp N Smart is the undoubted class horse of today’s Cup, he now hasn’t won a race for nearly three years.
However, he is back on the track where he captured the Herbie Dyke and NZ Derby, and was excellent at Pukekohe and in Group 1s before that.
Few horses carry 59kg topweights to win big Cups in this country any more but it wouldn’t surprise to see him defy that trend today.
And the mare who beat Sassy Lass in last year’s Cup, Blue Sky At Night, is also back today and comes in beautifully at the handicaps so could improve sharply.
The O’Sullivan/Scott team feels like it may be ready to take off for the summer and they have some very strong chances in today’s support races.
The J Swap Sprint is a deep race but Scott rates both Checkmate and Smart Love winning hopes.
“Checkmate obviously raced in the first Group 1 of the season and then had a break but his form last season was top class.
“He is working well and is being aimed at races like the Rich Hill Mile and Aotearoa Classic so he is well up to this.
“And Smart Love gets into this race now off the ballot and has been in great form. This is her biggest test yet but she has real class.
“But that is going to be a top race.”
A trio of classy types in I’munstoppable, Tristar and She’s All That represent the stable in Race 7, a hot Rating 75.
Scott suggests Tristar could be their best hope, even though she is fresh up against some flyers.
“She won four races as a 3-year-old last season which takes some real doing,” he offers.
The stable will have two rare pre-Christmas juvenile starters in Race 2 today in Firebird and Dashing Dixie.
“We haven’t raced a lot of juveniles the last couple of seasons but these two have shown us enough to say they should be given the opportunity.”
Today’s richest race, the Cal Isuzu for fillies and mares, looks perfect for Qali Al Farrasha as she prepares for what could be a vintage Cambridge Stud Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie on Boxing Day.
And her stablemate and last season’s Karaka Million and Sires’ Produce winner La Dorada returns from Australia in today’s opening race.
Promising apprentice Hayley Hassman gets one of the highest profile rides of her career to bring La Dorada’s weight handicap down from 59.5kg to 56.5kg.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
