Kennedy has been very public about the fact he won’t chase the premiership as hard this season, Opie Bosson is taking a break and McNab has only come back to riding after missing the first three months of the season.
McNab started his comeback with a bang, riding five winners last weekend alone, which saw him rocket to the top of the premiership market but Grylls remains 20 wins in front of him.
Sam Spratt leads the table with 28 wins, two clear of Grylls, but it is hard to imagine Spratt jetting up and down the country chasing the title.
“I am not saying I am going after it but, if I am in contention come April or something like that, it could become a priority,” admits Grylls.
“I don’t really have to change much to chase a premiership as I am a pretty busy rider anyway and ride a lot.
“And it is something I’d love to tick off the list.”
Grylls has just come off a rare suspension, revealing a surprising stat.
“It was my first suspension since Cup Week last year so I don’t get them very often,” he told the Herald.
He returns to NZ Cup week today with a good book of rides headlined by So Naive in the $650,000 NZ 2000 Guineas.
He has been fairly and squarely beaten by today’s favourite Savaglee in both the Hawke’s Bay Guineas and Sarten Memorial but Grylls says So Naive wasn’t aided by being on the inside where it was heaviest last start.
“I really like him and I think he will roll forward and be handy. He might take some running down.”
Savaglee is the clear standout in the Guineas but So Naive has been best backed by punters looking for value, moving from $17 to $10 on Wednesday and looks a great place or even Top 2 play.
Love Poem, Kiwi Skyhawk and perhaps He’s Lucid appeal most from the rest.
Grylls has his second raceday ride on Mehzebeen (R8, No 4) today and she can’t go as badly as she did the first time when they finished 11th of 14 in a poor maiden race at Taupō two years ago.
Mehzebeen may have won only three races since but is an NZ Oaks runner-up and a proper stayer so, with 53kg today, she is a good each-way bet, with Nest Egg the one to beat.
Mehzebeen is trained by Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson, who have a very different type of female galloper in Bellatrix Star entered on Champions Day at Flemington today.
The final day of Melbourne Cup week has become the strongest, with the Sprint, Mile and Champion Stakes all Group 1s.
Bellatrix Star has already had a wildly successful spring, going from an unknown in Australia to runner-up in a superstar-laden Coolmore Stud Stakes last Saturday.
That was rarefied air for a New Zealand 3-year-old filly but she climbs even higher in the Champions Sprint today in a field that matches The Everest.
It contains Everest quinella mates Bella Nipotina and Giga Kick against Overpass, Sunshine In Paris and Caulfield Guineas winner Private Life, the latter part-owned by Sir Peter Vela.
It will be one of the highlights on a dazzling day that also hosts a superb Champions Mile and the Champion Stakes, in which Cox Plate queen Via Sistina takes on Without A Fight, Duke De Sessa and Atishu in a wonderful end to one Cup Week as another begins.
TODAY’S RACING
** Riccarton, 2000 Guineas Day, first race 11.38am
** Te Rapa, Legacy Lodge Sprint Day, first race 12.25pm
** Flemington, Champions Day, first race 2.40pm (NZ time)
** Rosehill, Five Diamonds Day, first race 2.25pm (NZ time)
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.
