But while the son of trainers Cran and Chrissie Dalgety usually takes the road less travelled, tonight he will be happy to be taking the shortest way home.
Dalgety will drive exceptional pacing filly Beside Me in the $100,000 Pascoes Oaks, and Republican Party in the $100,000 Dawson Harford Messenger, and the plan with both is simple: be on the markers.
That looks certain with Republican Party (barrier one), who finally gets a good draw in the 2700m mobile and has options to lead - but more likely trail - either Rakero Rocket or Chase A Dream.
“It is so good to get a good draw with him because he has been going great [in] races but covering so much ground,” says Dalgety.
“In these big staying races, being on the markers is so crucial and he is going well enough to win.
“He might have had a busy summer and autumn, but he is so relaxed and cruisy in training he takes nothing out of himself, and I think that really helps.”
Trailing Rakero Rocket, who in turn could make favourite Chase A Dream work, would be the ideal scenario for Republican Party.
But if Chase A Dream can work to the lead and put him three back on the markers, his task becomes far more difficult - but not impossible.
It probably matters a lot less what happens to Beside Me in the Oaks as she looks to be a wonderful staying filly who is perfectly suited for the step up to 2700m tonight. She showed good gate speed for catch driver Tony Herlihy last Saturday, and our most successful reinsman ever says the filly is the real deal.
“It is cool hearing Tony talk about her like that, and I’d like to go forward and lead on her,” says Dalgety. “I don’t think she has to lead to win, but being on the markers would be way better.”
While Arafura is a smart front-runner having drawn the ace, she does have Without You on her back, so if she leads and gets attacked early, she would be better relenting than leading with enemies all around.
Stella Rouge has looked a very, very good filly, and in any normal Oaks would be the favourite, but drawn outside Beside Me and the other favourites, she is going to need to do something special to win.
Dalgety is looking at another ground-saving run with The Queens Gambit (R3, No.1) in the 2-year-old fillies races tonight but says with the Delightful Lady Final next week, he might prefer to trail Australian visitor Ripples as she heads forward at the start.
Ripples was a brilliant winner of the Bathurst Gold Tiara in a 1:53.9 mile rate last start and will be the first New Zealand start for Victorian training superstar Emma Stewart. If she leads, only a failure to handle the right-handed Alexandra Park would seem a danger to her.
What they said about the group 1s
R5, Pascoes Northern Oaks: “She is a really good filly, she doesn’t feel like she is going fast when she is,” last Saturday’s catch driver Tony Herlihy on Beside Me.
R6, Breckons Trotting Derby: “Our filly went great last week but Meant To Be has to be the one to beat on his last start win,” John Dunn on Ya Rite Darl.
R7, Woodlands Northern Derby: “He will be back to his Harness Million [winning] fitness levels this week,” Marketplace’s trainer Regan Todd.
R8, Fiskens Anzac Cup: “They will run so hard how all those good horses step and where they end up will be crucial,” Oscar Bonavena’s trainer Mark Purdon.
R9, Dawson Harford Messenger: “I’d love it if we could trail Rakero Rocket and he stayed in front,” Carter Dalgety on Republican Party.
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.
