Last placing wouldn’t tell the whole story for Mark Twain

Mark Twain has already won a race in Melbourne last year but faces Australia's elite thoroughbreds today.

Kiwi trainer Roger James is looking forward to running last in the biggest race in Australia today.

Of course, James and training partner Robert Wellwood would love to win, or at least finish closer than last, with Mark Twain in the A$750,000 Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington today.

But they realise if the market is right, their 100-1 shot Mark Twain will finish sixth of six and that can still be the ideal step toward their ultimate goal: the Melbourne Cup.

Mark Twain is a genuine stayer and won his way into last season’s Melbourne Cup before injury robbed him of his chance to start.

The big boy from Cambridge has had one start back this campaign and was supposed to race at The Valley last week until he dropped his jockey, galloped two laps and had to be scratched.

Which is how he has ended up in today’s glamour weight-for-age race against the biggest names in racing, like the James McDonald-ridden Via Sistina.

“He needs the racing if we are going to have him ready for a Melbourne Cup,” says James.

“Missing a race last Saturday obviously isn’t ideal but the distance suits this week so we will let him go around.

“We are not kidding ourselves, we realise this is a Group 1 against the best of the best and he will be outpaced over 1600m.

“If they all run up to their best form he will probably run last but he could do that and still please us.”

For those wondering just how imposing the Makybe Diva is, Mark Twain’s five rivals are Via Sistina, ATC Oaks winner Aeliana, people’s hero Mr Brightside, Antino and Tom Kitten.

In other words, a mini Cox Plate.

While he will be happy to get Mark Twain back to the stables tonight fitter and a race closer to the Cup, James has already had reason to celebrate this week with Fairy Gem’s win at Cambridge on Wednesday his 1300th New Zealand training success.

“I had no idea until I started getting calls of congrats the next morning,” he smiles.

“I suppose it isn’t a big milestone like 1000 or 1500 but I am proud of it as we have rarely had more than 45 horses in work, which is a lot smaller than some of the bigger stables.

“And I think we might be one of the few New Zealand stables to have had winners in five different states of Australia.

“So we are proud of what we have done and want to keep doing it.”

Mark Twain won’t be the only big-name Kiwi galloper going to work in Australia today, with former NZ 2000 Guineas winner Pier resuming in the A$300,000 Theo Marks (1300m) at a rain-soaked Rosehill.

“We are here to get him ready for the Epsom,” says co-trainer Darryn Weatherley.

“He is very well but I reckon he might have put on 20kg since he won the Wayne Wilson in Queensland last start.

“I just think he has finally matured and he looks like a weight-for-age horse now but that extra size and being on a wet track he might need the outing this week.”

Pier takes on yet another Chris Waller-trained excitement machine in the unbeaten Autumn Glow.

Closer to home, domestic racing has a more relaxed feel than most Saturdays in spring, with a solid programme at New Plymouth while Riccarton takes a step closer to the NZ Cup.

They are expecting a Soft 6 for their Canterbury Belle Stakes meeting, with the three-year-old fillies feature dominated by northern three-year-olds who have headed south chasing black type and building toward the NZ 1000 Guineas.

The open sprint at Riccarton sees the return of last season’s Stewards winner Mystic Park in a race full of Cup week contenders.

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.