By Michael Guerin
What could have been a Christian Cullen benefit now has the makings of a serious horse race.
If the Kiwi wonder horse had drawn a handy barrier in Saturday night's $A250,000 Victoria Cup the race would have been as good as over.
But that didn't happen at yesterday's barrier draw
luncheon and the great horse now faces a severe test.
Christian Cullen drew three on the second line in the 2380m mobile around Moonee Valley, a notoriously hard track to make ground on.
But just as significantly his two major - and some would say only - dangers, Holmes D G and Our Sir Vancelot drew perfectly.
Holmes D G, who will enjoy a return to the mobile, will start from barrier two while Our Sir Vancelot starts from three.
From there the Aussie hero looks certain to lead, which could play into Christian Cullen's hands if he can secure a run through behind Our Sir Vancelot.
But that still leaves him with the problem of trying to get the front of Our Sir Vancelot's trainer-driver Brian Hancock, who has been more than a little annoyed at the negative comparisons between his stable star and Christian Cullen.
Hancock only decided to start Our Sir Vancelot after he worked brilliantly on the beach yesterday morning and the pair are now rated 3-1 second favourites.
Christian Cullen is at 6-4 on, which equates to a $1.65 win dividend, while Holmes D G is at 5-1 in the early market.
The other Kiwi stars also drew well, with Kate's First (12-1) starting from the ace and Iraklis at barrier four, but even that has not been enough to see him rated any better than a 20-1 shot after his poor recent form.
Yesterday's draw was a huge boost for Harness Racing Victoria, who can now expect not only a massive crowd but some serious betting on the race.
But not such good news for them was the arrival of Courage Under Fire.
The unbeatable one landed in Melbourne yesterday to find he had scared most of his Victoria Derby rivals away.
There were supposed to be three heats of 12 horses for the Derby on Saturday night but only 18 horse accepted yesterday, clearly scared of the unbeaten Kiwi, who drew the ace in his heat.
