Horse racing: Evaporate impresses at Ellerslie ahead of $3.5m NZB Kiwi race

Evaporate. Photo / Bruno Cannatelli

One of question marks hanging over the favourite for New Zealand’s richest horse race evaporated in the early morning sunlight at Ellerslie on Monday.

High-class Australian 3-year-old Evaporate has been favourite for Saturday’s $3.5million NZB Kiwi since he was confirmed to run in the Entain slot, that favouritism firming when he finished a brave fourth behind stablemate Mr Brightside in the Futurity Stakes at Caulfield last start.

That is serious Group 1 weight-for-age form behind not only Mr Brightside but Tom Kitten and I Wish I Win. For all the class and promise of his 13 rivals for the inaugural running of the 1500m slot race, Evaporate has the best form.

But coming to a new country, even if it was where Evaporate was born, and racing right-handed for the first time can present young horses with an array of physical and mental challenges.

Evaporate’s jockey, Mick Dee, admitted as much last week, suggesting how the big, raw-boned son of Per Incanto adapts to Ellerslie for what will be his first right-handed start is one of the few remaining questions over his hopes.

Dee and the punters considering backing Evaporate need not worry judging by how he cruised around Ellerslie on Monday morning.

He wasn’t asked to sprint by trackwork rider and travelling foreman Junior Richards but strode out beautifully and looked unflustered by his new surroundings.

“He was lovely,” said Richards, a horseman senior trainer Ben Hayes describes as an elite trackwork rider.

“He was straight on the right leg and, while he had a small look around early, he was perfect once we got going.

“He has taken no harm from the travel and settled in well, eating and drinking as he should, so he is spot on.”

While things can change in an instant in racing, it is very much a case of so far, so good for the $2.80 NZB Kiwi favourite with the next box he needs to tick being a decent draw tonight.

That barrier draw, at the Hilton in Auckland, starts at 7pm and will be screened on Trackside.

It has the potential to dramatically alter the market as there are plenty in the NZB Kiwi who prefer to get up on the speed and race handy.

The draw may not only affect their chances but the potential for traffic concerns: put all the speedsters in low draws and the field could sort itself out quickly.

But put go-forward horses like Perfumist, Public Attention, Pivotal Ten, Sethito and even Penman out wide with their jockeys choosing to go forward and that not only creates tempo but outside pressure on those drawn closer to the rail.

For all that, unless Evaporate draws outside barrier 10 it is very hard to see him being replaced as the favourite and maybe not even then.

An unusual element of tonight’s draw will be the four emergencies being in the field but not allocated barrier draws.

New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing will choose four horses to act as emergencies but they must firstly be NZB Kiwi eligible (bred or sold here) plus also an acceptor for Windsor Park Stud Trophy also on Saturday.

The quartet will be part of the actual NZB Kiwi field but will be given the holding pattern draws of 15, 16, 17 and 18. If they are needed for the Kiwi field because of a scratching they will take the barrier draw of the horse they replace.

The four emergencies for the race will not be in any order of preference so if a horse is forced out post draw the owners of that slot will get to choose any of the four emergencies to negotiate to fill the vacated slot.

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.