Horse racing: Ellerslie upsets shake NZ Derby and Auckland Cup predictions

Avondale Guineas winner Thedoctoroflove. Photo / Kenton Wright Race Images.

Punters were left shell-shocked and bookies scratching their heads after a series of shock results at Ellerslie on Saturday.

It was not that upset winners Thedoctoroflove (Eagle Avondale Guineas) or Blue Sky At Night (Eagle Avondale Cup) were unworthy winners, far from it as both had to overcome obstacles to win their Group races.

It was more the performances and/or tactics of some of those behind them that will have everybody wondering what they mean for Grand Finals like the NZ Derby and Auckland Cup on March 8.

Before yesterday Willydoit was $2 to win the Derby but he finished 10th in a farcically slowly-run Guineas. It is a a long way from a Guineas 10th to the Derby winner’s circle.

The Auckland Cup looks more open than ever after trainer Shelly Hale and jockey Tayla Mitchell got the best out of Blue Sky At Night for her second major Cup of the summer in another race where plenty of decent horses got back and never improved.

It was more competitive in the $110,000 Eagle Stakes for three-year-olds where Sethito confirmed she can win the $3.5 million NZB Kiwi in two weeks by coming out of the one-one but her stablemate Checkmate got back and was never a factor, a theme of the day way more than punters would have liked.

Trainers will do trot-ups and some vet checks on Monday morning, punters and bookies will scan videos and new horses like Legarto, Tuxedo and the Aussie reps in the NZB Kiwi will join the fray.

But 13 days out from the richest day in New Zealand racing history, the picture has rarely looked more chaotically confused.

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.