'Anonymous crap from idiot punters'

Jockey Leith Innes crosses the line first on Kawi at Ellerslie race track on Boxing Day. Photo / Nick Reed

Allan Sharrock doesn't like knockers.

He can take criticism of himself, but not his horses.

Particularly Kawi, and Sharrock let that be known immediately after his star performer got home for a brave win in Saturday's $200,000 Zabeel Classic.

"I'm not having a shot at you press because most of you know what you're looking at, but we've had to take a lot of anonymous crap from idiot punters on social media after some recent defeats. Some of it has been downright hurtful."

As a result Sharrock, normally a great communicator with the media, put himself out of bounds in the 14 days leading up to Saturday's race.

"I've been off the air for two weeks. I was worried one of the idiots might call me and I was worried what I'd end up saying if they did.

"I wanted the horse to do the talking - and he did."

Relief washed over Sharrock after the race, which was always Kawi's main summer mission. "Well, we finally got there," he kept repeating.

Kawi just managed to hold off an equally brave and determined finish from Stolen Dance after both had to come from the tail of the field at the 400m.

Weight-for-age races are meant to be tactical affairs and this one certainly was. For much of the second half of the race both Kawi's rider Leith Innes and Danielle Johnson on Stolen Dance were attempting to manoeuvre their mounts to get on to the back of joint favourite Soriano to get a drag into the race. But Soriano had been back and three wide without cover and by the time Innes and Johnson realised that they were awkwardly placed.

Kawi sprinted first and went so quickly to reach the lead 275m out, Innes thought the horse might have got to the front too soon. So did Sharrock in the grandstand.

Stolen Dance flashed home so quickly that momentarily at the 100m it appeared she might swamp Kawi, but the big bloke was staunch.

"Actually, I always thought he was doing enough to hold the mare out," said Innes. Kawi is certainly not an easy horse to get past once he takes command of a situation.

How well will Flemington's wide open spaces suit when Kawi gets to the Australian Cup early in the new year? The 500m home straight allows jockeys to make their final sprint at exactly the right second to suit their horse, which does not happen on smaller, tighter tracks.

Allan Sharrock said yesterday Kawi has come through the win and trip back to Taranaki better than even he could have wished for. But he says he has a lot of thinking to do.

"There are a huge number of options coming up for the horse in the next three months and I have to really think it through. There is the Herbie Dyke (Te Rapa February), but it's six weeks to that race and that's too much of a stretch for a group one race. This horse freshens up so quickly and he'd have to have a race before Te Rapa.

"So, the Thorndon Mile at Trentham is a possibility as is the group one at Otaki. Then there is the Australian Cup in Melbourne and up to Sydney after that.

"What I've got to do is make sure his plan does not get too cluttered. It's all very much up in the air and I have to crunch the numbers."

Stolen Dance showed she was up with the best Australian mares with her performance, which gleaned much praise from Sharrock. Trainer David Greene, for the very best reasons, was not prepared to make decisions on the mare's future before he'd cleared his head of Stolen Dance's first magnificent attempt at group one.

"That was a hell of a run," said Greene and no one was disagreeing.

There has been a growing suspicion for the past 12 months that our top-end horses are at least as good, and in many cases better, than their Australian rivals. Kawi and Stolen Dance, along with Xtravagant, are three fine examples.