Marsh megastars face huge tests in Ellerslie’s Boxing Day highlights

Well Written won the NZ 1000 Guineas so easily jockey Matt Cartwright had time to pose for the photo. Photo / Ajay Berry, Race Images

BOXING DAY AT ELLERSLIE

What: One of New Zealand’s biggest race days.

Where: Auckland.

When: Friday, first race 12.45pm

Who: Many of our best gallopers as well as exciting three-year-olds.

Major races: $500,000 Cambridge Stud Zabeel Classic (Group 1), $270,000 Jimmy Schick Shaw’s Auckland Guineas (G2), $270,000 Hallmark Stud Eight Carat Classic (G2), $125,000 Dunstan Feeds Stayers Final, $110,000 Stella Artois Championship Final.

Can I go?: Yes, tickets available for most levels at www.ellerslie.co.nz

Stephen Marsh finds himself in the privileged position of taking both the Horse of the Year and the most exciting horse in the country to Ellerslie on Friday.

But he knows for all the class of El Vencedor and Well Written, both could get beaten in two of the great races of Boxing Day.

El Vencedor tackles the $500,000 Cambridge Stud Zabeel Classic with a wide draw against the best weight-for-age horses in the country, while unbeaten filly Well Written goes head to head with arguably our most talented male three-year-old, Affirmative Action, in the Jimmy Schick Shaw’s Auckland Guineas.

“It is pretty exciting to be putting two horses like them on the truck together,” says Marsh.

“We have been lucky enough to have some really good horses in recent years but these two are very special and to have them racing in big races on a huge day at Ellerslie, that is why we do the job.”

El Vencedor pleased Marsh with a sub-34-second last 600m in an exhibition gallop between races at Te Rapa last Saturday and it mirrored his most potent racing style, being asked for his best between the 600m and 200m to get his rivals off the bit on the home bend.

If he can do that from in front in the Zabeel on Friday, it will take a very good horse to close any gap he opens – but first, catch rider Mick Dee needs to get El Vencedor handy, or in front, from the outside draw.

Barrier 9 is hardly ideal with the short run to the bend from the Ellerslie 2000m start, because if horses don’t get where they want to early, they can be forced to work up the incline out of the straight, which is steeper than it looks on television.

Energy spent in that first 400m could come back to haunt El Vencedor late, as rivals like Waitak, La Crique, Legarto and maybe even the best version of Qali Al Farrasha are all capable of running past him.

But punters taking the generous $5 opening price have a couple of key factors on their side: Dee is now a world-class rider, so will have an early plan, while Waitak is the only rival in Friday’s field to really trounce El Vencedor in the past 18 months.

While the Zabeel Classic will be the race of the day, the Guineas could be the most definitive race of the three-year-old season yet, as Well Written takes on the boys, with Affirmative Action the second favourite behind the filly not only for Friday but both the Karaka Millions and NZB Kiwi.

Well Written hasn’t raced since her explosive NZ 1000 Guineas win six weeks ago and while Marsh was happy with her gallop on Saturday, he warns punters she can’t possibly be at her peak on Friday as $5.5 million of summer targets loom.

“She is really well and she is obviously there to win but she is still coming back up and we all know what she has coming up,” says Marsh.

“There are some really good gallopers in there, headed by Affirmative Action, so it won’t be easy but she has a decent draw to put herself handy and she is ready to win ... But we should know even more about her after Friday.”

With Well Written and the favoured males Affirmative Action, That’s Gold and He Who Dares all drawn next to each other in barriers 5 to 8, the Guineas could be very tactical.

But to beat the filly, one of the boys may need to get in front of her because her acceleration when asked is one of the most powerful turbo buttons seen in recent New Zealand age-group racing.

Well Written is already special. This summer gives her the opportunity to show us how special.

That begins on Friday.

** Marsh suggests both Roctave and Sneak Peak have good chances in Friday’s Dunstan Stayers Final, while he rates High Emotion (R4, No 12) one of his better each-way chances at the mega meeting.

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.