Horse racing: Canheroc’s Marton Cup showing suggests he can win again

Canheroc winning the Marton Cup at Hastings.

Few things sum up the complex puzzle of backing a Wellington Cup winner like the fact Canheroc is the only last-start winner in the field of 21 at Trentham today.

The iconic staying contest is the signature race of the capital’s biggest race day even though the $400,000 Thorndon Mile contains better horses.

That is the reality of our biggest staying races these days, the big Cups rarely contain the elite horses - with the Auckland Cup the rare exception that gets a crossover of weight-for-age horses.

There are many reasons. Many promising young stayers get sold to Australia, the ones that stay require patience and plenty of work and very few are competitive at any distance below 2200m so rack up a lot more losses than wins.

They end up with four or five days a year on which they can shine, which is why Marton Cup winner Canheroc is the only last-start winner in today’s $300,000 feature and even he has only won four of 27 starts.

Punters have to weigh up which of today’s combatants has the soundness, fitness, stamina and will to win to want to run through the pain barrier halfway down the Trentham straight.

Waisake has been there, done that, three years ago and his third in the Trentham Stakes last Saturday was almost as good as winning form, especially as this is really the only race of the season that matters to his connections.

He deserves to be favourite for jockey Matt Cameron, who also rides top pick Campionessa in the Thorndon Mile at a meeting missing Opie Bosson, Michael McNab and Ryan Elliot through suspension.

The way Canheroc bolted in in that Marton Cup suggests he can win again. Roccia can too if she can avoid traffic issues, while Central Districts stayer Never Look Back is under-rated and as the veteran of just 10 starts has fewer convictions than many today.

One horse who can win on class and track stats is Ess Vee Are but co-trainer Darryn Weatherley admits his sixth at Pukekohe last start was hardly inspiring.

“We are just hoping he is better left-handed and his work has been great so we wouldn’t be surprised if he turns it around,” says Weatherley.

But these days Wellington Cup punting is hard, with the era of greats like Kiwi and Castletown winning a distant memory.

Today’s Cup winner will more than likely be the one who stays best and gets an uninterrupted run. Maybe Waisake.

But before you go throwing too much of your hard-earned cash on him consider this: It is two years and five days since he last won a race and he has run only three placings in 17 starts since.

Million-dollar question

Almost everybody got what they wanted out of the last Ellerslie track work session before next Saturday’s mammoth TAB Karaka Millions meeting.

Everybody except the team behind the most-punted horse in the juvenile dash, Cool N Fast.

Cool N Fast put any rumours about him being sore to bed when he paraded sound and galloped straight in his two-horse workout, quickening over 600m, but it was still hardly stellar stuff.

While he and partner When Stars Align recorded the fastest last 600m of the morning in 34.82, Cool N Fast was being ridden along by jockey Opie Bosson, who admitted the colt is still a work in progress.

“He can have a real attitude and I had to really push him today, but he was also like that when he won at Pukekohe,” said Bosson.

Cool N Fast has been backed to win $1 million by the Boys Get Paid syndicate and nobody doubts his ability but it might take a special feat of horsemanship to keep him settled yet focused next Saturday.

On a morning full of stars, juvenile favourites Velocious and Bellatrix Star both galloped perfectly, Lupo Solitario looks to be peaking for the $1.5m 3-year-old race and Molly Bloom wasn’t asked to raise a sweat as she cantered around to just have a look at Ellerslie.

The barrier draws for the epic race night will be released on Wednesday.