Meaningful Star in action. Photo / Kenton Wright, Race Images
Grant Cooksley thought he had found the perfect race for Meaningful Star at Ellerslie tomorrow.
That’s until about 10.30am on Wednesday when the field for the $100,000 Fulton Family Stakes came out.
Cooksley and training partner Bruce Wallace, who also have Trust In You and Son Of Sun in the Listed 1500m race, then found out that Meaningful Star had drawn barrier 18.
Barrier 18 is never a number that trainers like and one rarely dished out in a major race at Ellerslie.
It hurts even more when you take into account the rail will be out 10m tomorrow to provide new ground after last week’s Karaka Millions meeting and also to protect the track for what lies ahead.
Even a track as wide as Ellerslie starts to feel that much smaller when horses race with the rail that far out.
The general consensus is that it aids those in the first half of the field, and in that regard the quietly spoken Cooksley is surprisingly glass half full.
“It looked an ideal race until I saw the draw but the more I look at the race there doesn’t seem to be a lot of speed there,” says Cooksley.
“So he should still be able to go forward and get a spot.”
If new jockey Kevin Stott can pull of that trick then Meaningful Star can continue a great record at Ellerslie, having won similar races to tomorrow’s one both two and three starts ago.
“He didn’t have any luck in the Zabeel Classic [December 26] after that, but he is working well and he can still win from out there.”
Meaningful Star is aided by having El Vencedor in the race because otherwise he would be the topweight. Instead, he carries 57kg but the pair are rated so much higher than their rivals the rest of the field carries just 53kg.
Meaningful Star still opened the $5.50 equal favourite with Kelly Coe.
Cooksley says his other two stable reps are in tomorrow’s race with different motivations.
Trust In You and Son Of Sun are quality stayers being aimed at the $600,000 Auckland Cup on March 8, which they will head to via the Avondale Cup on February 22.
Both haven’t raced since New Year’s Day when Son Of Sun won the Queen Elizabeth II Cup while Trust In You was a strong sixth in the Rich Hill Mile, his first run since the Melbourne Cup.
“They are both well but we’d expect 1500m to be a little too short for them as they are on a Cup campaign,” says Cooksley.
“Son Of Sun might surprise a few as he could end up being handy enough but it is more a race to get them ready for the next six weeks.”
They aren’t the only stayers in the race, as well as a few out-of-form runners, and with El Vencedor carrying such a big weight, horses like Kelly Coe and Uderzo, both coming out of major mile races, look the dangers to Meaningful Star.
Cooksley rates the stable’s only other runner for the day He’s Classic (R8, No.9) at least an each-way chance at an opening price of $14.
The Ellerslie card has been boosted by a new 2-year-old race named in honour of the late Colin Jillings, one of the true greats of the industry.
Coming just a week after the Karaka Million, it is small on numbers but still contains Return To Conquer, who is so highly rated after winning on debut he is the futures favourite for the Group 1 Sistema Stakes on Champions Day.
He has opened at $1.40 tomorrow from barrier 3 with stablemate Dare To Proisir the second favourite after missing a start in the Karaka Millions by one spot as the emergency.
The other highlight of tomorrow is the $1.25 million NZ Derby favourite Willydoit (R6, No.4) resuming after a month away in a Rating 75 over 1600m as his Derby preparations intensify.
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.