Turn Me Loose wins the second trial at Ruakaka on August 1. Picture / Trish Dunell
Record-breaking trainer Murray Baker will barely have time to unpack his holiday bags from Canada and Alaska before he tackles the problem of getting Turn Me Loose a start in the $200,000 Makfi Challenge Stakes at Hastings on August 29.
Turn Me Loose looks the potential winner of the season's first group one after his trial at Ruakaka on Saturday, but at this point is unlikely to gain a start unless Baker can convince NZTR's handicapper this morning to do something about the situation.
Baker is aghast that a horse as talented as Turn Me Loose, winner of the 2000 Guineas and Hawke's Bay Guineas, is rating only 25th in order of gaining a Makfi start.
"I was shocked at the rating he was given," said Baker yesterday, back less than 24 hours from his holiday. "He won the group one 2000 Guineas at his last start then got a virus when we took him to Sydney and he didn't race.
"He's won his only start at group one and his only start at group two yet he's got listed winners ahead of him in the Makfi.
"Is that all they think of the 2000 Guineas and the Hawke's Bay Guineas? At that rate they're being seen as just another race.
"If Mongolian Khan had been entered for the Makfi he would be 19 points - that's nearly 10kg - ahead of Turn Me Loose.
"I can't believe that's their comparative rating."
Turn Me Loose could not have been more impressive in winning his heat.
He looked very sharp and with heavyweight jockey Opie Bosson in the saddle he would have been carrying something like 10kg more than dual group one winner Puccini, who made up good late ground.
Puccini was ridden by stable apprentice Shaun McKay, who can ride at 51kg.
The stable has the option of running Turn Me Loose in the Foxbridge Plate to gain additional points to get into the Makfi, but Baker does not want to rely on that.
"What if we get a heavy track, and there is every likelihood of that, we couldn't afford to risk him. You couldn't risk him with an Australian campaign on the horizon." Turn Me Loose is owned in Melbourne and Baker advised the ownership he wanted to give the horse at least one New Zealand start to ensure there were no ongoing problems from the serious virus before heading to Australia.
There is no better season-ending saga than what we saw at Ruakaka on Saturday morning.
Eighty per cent of the highlights of the 2014-15 term were encapsulated in those two brief 1000m barrier trials.
If we have had a downer in New Zealand thoroughbred racing in the past decade it has been that we haven't been able to withstand the level of overseas buyers' dollars for our best horses.
So many of our rising stars were sold mainly to Asia and, to a lesser extent, to Australia.
The net effect was that at times we've struggled to win our own Derby.
Our ranks were so depleted the Aussies could come over here with their second-level 3-year-olds, sometimes third-level, and knock off our premier classic. Redoute's Dancer (2007) and Coniston Bluebird two years later were hardly topliners.
Two factors changed. The sales to Kong Kong slowed, leaving a greater number of potential stars to race here and, even better, the Chinese, aka Inner Mongolia Rider Horse, bought big here and race them in New Zealand, Mongolian Khan being the headliner.
There is no poor-cousin look about New Zealand's spring attack for Melbourne, with Mongolian Khan a live A$6.3 million Melbourne Cup hope and Volkstok'n'barrell targeting the Cox Plate.
They are more than up to it and they showed it at Ruakaka on Saturday.
Speedy Ryan Mark proved too swift for a fat Volkstok'n'barrell and looked stylish winning his heat by three-quarters of a length in 59.56.
Ryan Mark has undergone a knee operation since last racing and has obviously progressed well aiming at the Makfi.
Deane Martin ran well for third, just ahead of Mongolian Khan, who looked sharper than expected for a Melbourne Cup horse.
Donna Logan was delighted with Volkstok'n'barrell. "He badly needed that, he was getting above himself.
"He's so well he was pig-rooting walking to the track and needed the outing to settle him down. I loved what he did and he licked his bowl clean last night." No decision has been made about whether Volkstok'n'barrell runs in the Makfi or goes straight to Melbourne for the Memsie Stakes, but Logan made the point: "That from where we are here [Ruakaka] it's almost closer to Melbourne than it is to Hastings."
A decision also has to be made on who will ride Volkstok'n'barrell in Melbourne. That is not a position the stable will have any problems filling.
A third decision is whether the highly touted Hasselhoof will race in Melbourne. "He will definitely have a start or two here because he needs to learn a bit more about racing before we launch him into the big time."
Unhappy homecoming
• Co-trainer Murray Baker is far from happy that Turn Me Loose may miss a start in the Makfi Stakes at Hastings.
• He is surprised that the group one winner is rated behind horses who have won only at listed level.
• Ryan Mark showed his fitness for the Makfi by beating a classy line-up in his trial at Ruakaka.