Racing: A Bruce Almighty boilover

Bruce Almighty with rider Michael Coleman and part-owner Kaye Durrant return to scale after winning the Waikato Gold Cup at Te Rapa. Photo / Trish Dunell

Bruce Almighty delivered a killer blow to punters in the $100,000 (Group Two) Waikato Cup, powering home to a shock 27-1 victory at Te Rapa yesterday.

Tauranga trainer Stuart Manning decided to take the blinkers off the gelding who is a noted front runner and this proved to be the master stroke that clinched an impressive victory in the Waikato Times-sponsored event.

Michael Coleman was having his first ride on the gelding and settled his charge perfectly behind the leaders throughout the 2400m event.

Bruce Almighty was hooked out three wide to challenge the leaders with 200m remaining and came with a sustained finishing burst to win by three-quarters of a length over Dawn Ghost with a further half-length back to Tinseltown (third).

"I took the blinkers off today which most probably helped settle him and he found the line really well," said Manning.

"I was thinking about heading to Manawatu for their Cup race but after winning this we may end up carrying too much weight. We'll probably look at the Wellington Cup."

The top weight and favourite Tinseltown was gallant in defeat, racing forward three wide at the start to lead, then trail, and fought on in determined fashion in the stretch.

November Rain bounced back to winning form, impressively delivering a staggering home stretch sprint to win the $85,000 Cal Isuzu Stakes. The daughter of Stravinsky tracked the favourite Obsession forward three wide from the 600m mark, lengthening stride powerfully down the outer to catch the gallant pace-setting Eileen Dubh.

Sharp Princess made ground solidly late to finish third.

What was supposed to be a relatively routine Cook Strait Ferry Crossing turned into a 19-hour ordeal for super filly King's Rose.

She was scheduled to take the midnight crossing on Wednesday night from Picton to Wellington which was postponed due to bad weather conditions.

The next scheduled ferry made it out of the harbour before having to turn around and return to Picton due to further weather problems.

King's Rose finally made it to Awapuni at 7pm on Thursday night but this obviously made no impact on her race-day performance, judging by yesterday's annihilation of age-group rivals in the $70,000 (Group Three) Eulogy Stakes.

The strapping daughter of Redoute's Choice was given clear galloping room throughout the running of the 1600m event, sitting three wide in the middle of the field before regular jockey Opie Bosson asked the favourite to sprint at the top of the home stretch.

King's Rose effortlessly reeled in the leaders and won easing down at the finish by 2 lengths over Kiwi Lady with a further three-quarters of a length back to Rememba Howe (third).

Bosson elected to travel to Awapuni to continue his association with the filly as opposed to riding at the larger race meeting at Te Rapa.

King's Rose was a class above the opposition and Matamata-based trainer Jason Bridgman has some tough decisions to make with the filly over the Christmas racing period.

"She has been based at our Rangiora stable all this season so it's important to see how she settles into things before making any future decisions," said Bridgman. "If she comes out of this race in good order we may consider starting her in the Royal Stakes at Ellerslie."