What happened to Ruud Awakening next?
At her next start, she won the then Diamond Stakes effortlessly on March 9, 2013.
Velocious goes to Ellerslie to try to win the same race, now called the Sistema, also on March 9 — also at her next start.
So tomorrow could see two fillies both trained by Marsh and owned by Go Racing Syndicates win the same two races 11 years apart on exactly the same dates.
If you are a total dates nerd (or oddly observant) you may ask: how are the two races 11 years apart run on the same dates when 2013 wasn’t a leap year but this year is?
Super smart question. The answer is in 2013 the Karaka Million was held on a Sunday, not Saturday.
TAB bookies believe Velocious will complete the incredibly coincidental double even though only one other horse, Vespa in 2014, has won the same double without racing in between.
“I know she she can do it because I have done it before,” says Marsh matter-of-factly.
“I think with these good juveniles, you want to aim them at the best races and that means you have to miss some of the ones in between.
“But she had a trial, admittedly only against two horses, and handled that really well ... She is ready to go and we have the right draw.”
On her Karaka Millions form, Velocious should be too fast for Savaglee, who was really good winning at Matamata and his runner-up there in Poetic Champion.
But her dangers may be fellow Written Tycoon fillies Captured By Love and Foreverintime.
Captured By Love in particular has looked total class and she sat outside a smart filly in Alabama Lass and beat her in the Matamata Breeders three weeks ago.
She may need to go to a new level to do the same to Velocious but if she does, the valuable Juvenile of the Year title would hang in the balance.
Marsh also has reps in the Auckland Cup, where he rates Nest Egg a value each way hope, and two starters in the Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes in Skyman and El Vencedor.
“El Vencedor is stepping up to 2000 metres for the first time and I can see him rolling along in front so I reckon he can get some of the money and Skyman will be improved too.”
But his best chance of the day away from Velocious is exciting emerging galloper Financier (R2, No4).
“I think he is as good as any horse in the stable and if he races up to his best, I think he will win.”
Cup run all new for champion jockey
To say leading South Island jockey Kylie Williams is in for some new experiences tomorrow is a bit of an understatement.
Williams, the winner of 918 races, comes north for a surprise pick-up ride on Waisake in the $500,000 Auckland Cup.
Not only has Williams never ridden in an Auckland Cup before, she has never ridden at Ellerslie at all.
Actually, Williams has never even been to Ellerslie.
“I have never ridden north of Rotorua, I think, and I am sure I have never been to Ellerslie, even just to check it out,” says the 44-year-old.
“I am lucky I have got Courtney [Barnes, fellow jockey] picking me up from the airport because I don’t even know where Ellerslie is.”
Williams has also never ridden Waisake or ever ridden a horse for trainer Allan Sharrock but right-handed racing won’t be a total shock.
“I rode at Hokitika down here when it was still open,” she says with a smile.
While that is a lot of new experiences all packed into one ride, Williams says she is thrilled about the opportunity and has nothing but respect for Sharrock and Waisake.
“It was a bit of a surprise but I realise there are only so many jockeys who can ride that light [52kgs] ... looking forward to it.”
Waisake, a former Wellington Cup winner, is rated a $26 chance in the Cup.
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.
