Ladies Man’s millionaire status guaranteed but more important goal looms

Ladies Man (left) grabbed La Crique late to win the TAB Classic at Trentham last December. Photo / Peter Rubery

LIVAMOL CLASSIC, $550,000, 2040M

at Ellerslie at 4.59pm on Saturday

1: El Vencedor (8)

2: Waitak (4)

3: Ladies Man (7)

4: Sharp N Smart (6)

5: Khan Hunter (5)

6: Aftermath (1)

7: Solidify (10)

8: Spanish Lad (3)

9: Legarto (9)

10: Quintessa (11)

11: Hi Yo Sass Bomb (2)

Ladies Man will become a millionaire at Ellerslie on Saturday but one of his biggest fans won’t be there to see it.

The Taranaki gelding goes into the $550,000 Livamol Classic with a real chance of winning his third career Group 1 but, sitting on $997,506 in earnings, his place in the millionaire’s club is guaranteed.

But even if the one-time Melbourne Cup contender can go all the way and win the 2040m feature there will still be something missing after the death of part-owner Ron Stanley last Saturday.

Stanley, his brother Noel and their families have tasted enormous success in racing with horses like Grout, Woburn and perhaps best known, NZ Derby winner Wahid.

Trainer Allan Sharrock acknowledged Saturday won’t be the same without Stanley but says it makes him even more motivated to get the job done.

“This is the race we have set him for and I’d love to pull it off for all the owners but of course for the Stanleys,” Sharrock says.

Sharrock believes he has the right version of Ladies Man to pull off the last leg of what has been a dramatic spring Triple Crown.

Ladies Man missed the opening leg, the Proisir Plate, won in stunning fashion by Qunitessa then he stormed home for third to Waitak in the second leg, the 1600m of the Howden Insurance Mile at Te Rapa.

Both Quintessa and Waitak oppose him this Saturday but Ladies Man looks certain to be better suited by the step up to 2040m as he tries to win the Livamol for the second time, having taken it out at its usual Hastings home in 2023.

To do so he will have to break a mini Ellerslie hoodoo which is probably due more to the usual pattern of 2000m weight-for-age races there than any dislike for the iconic right-handed track.

Weight-for-age 2000m races at Ellerslie can often lack tempo as horses sort themselves out early and little pressure is applied down the back straight.

That has been the case both times Ladies Man has started there, both the Bonecrusher Stakes and Zabeel Classic been run at almost bang on 2:04 for the 2000m, with Ladies Man breaking 35 seconds for his last 600m on both occasions but giving away too big a start.

“That is the obvious worry again,” Sharrock admits.

“Both times we have headed there we have got too far back and they have run home too hard.

“That could happen this week with El Vencedor in the race so we are hoping somebody else goes forward and puts some pressure on him.

“I still think Waitak is the horse to beat but El Vencedor, if he is at his peak, holds the key to the race.”

TAB bookies couldn’t split El Vencedor and Waitak at the head of the market after yesterday’s barrier draw in which both fared well.

El Vencedor’s barrier 8 may not sound ideal but it gives Wiremu Pinn room to roll forward in a race lacking many on speed runners, while Waitak’s barrier 4 should see him settle midfield at worst without having to do any work.

“I hope our horse can stay a bit handier than his last two starts or the last two times he has been to Ellerslie for that matter,” Sharrock says.

“The step up to 2040m should help that and the horse to be ready to do it.

“But I am talking about him being midfield, not totally changing his racing pattern to be up there putting pressure on the leaders.”

Saturday’s meeting also boasts the $175,000 Windsor Park Soliloquy Stakes and the next leg of the building rivalry between 1000 Guineas favourites Tajana and Lollapalooza.

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.