Racing: Brothers earn another shot

In Wahid the Opunake pig-farming brothers have an even better chance of success at Ellerslie tomorrow.

A wide barrier draw looks bad on paper, but it may not be a serious factor.

Owner Ron Stanley admits he nearly kicked an on-ground ashtray in the Ellerslie grandstand moments after Woburn was beaten a head and a head by St Reims and Kajema in the 2002 Derby.

It's not that Stanley and his brother Noel are bad losers - they're among the best - it's simply that he realised his dream to win a Derby was gone.

"If you're lucky you get one lifetime chance to win a Derby," said Stanley yesterday.

"That was ours and I realised on the day it wouldn't happen again."

Except the two Stanley brothers, via their trainer Allan Sharrock, will produce the favourite Wahid for tomorrow's $600,000 Mercedes Derby.

Two of racing's luckiest owners have triumphed again with a topline racehorse following the exploits of champion juvenile Grout and Woburn.

It's been a rocky road to this point with Wahid - he recently won then lost the Wellington Stakes at Trentham, last season a shocking barrier draw cost him dearly in the Manawatu Sires Produce and he has drawn barrier No 18 for New Zealand's premier classic race.

"We can't draw a decent alley," laments trainer Allan Sharrock.

"Woburn came out of an outside gate when he was beaten, Grout drew wide in both Sires Produce races, but was so good he won both and Wahid has drawn his share of bad gates right through."

The draw may not end up being a factor.

Firstly, if the emergencies are the only scratchings he will start from No 13 and for a horse that is certain to go forward early, that's infinitely better than drawing 1, 2 or 3, from where he might end up jammed against the rail.

Rider Leith Innes will almost certainly be looking to slot Wahid in somewhere in the first half-dozen runners, one width off the rail.

If that is not on the possibility exists for Wahid to slide forward and lead.

That leaves the favourite vulnerable to attackers, but he has shown in both the Waikato Guineas and Mercedes Championship Stakes that he can lead and win.

The measure of safety is that rival jockeys know that to attack on the outside might undermine Wahid, but their own mount would be undermined to a greater degree.

There is lingering doubt with some punters that Wahid's natural speed does not make him an ideal 2400m type, but the stamina index of derbies tends to run closer to the index of sheer class rather than to absolute stamina.

It's well known that some horses that can manage 2400m as 3-year-olds against their own age will never get that distance as older horses.

The Derby predominantly comes down to class and Wahid has that. "He's never been better and I haven't had a horse go into a group one race in better condition," said Sharrock.

Innes will be keen to win the Derby - his chances of taking the other feature at the carnival, the $600,000 SkyCity Auckland Cup on Command 'N Conquer were extinguished when he was suspended for Cup day and fined $5000 for careless riding at Te Rapa on Wednesday.

Sharrock has had a chance to weigh up Wahid against most of the Derby opposition, but one that doesn't fit into that group is Cambridge-trained Congrats.

Congrats has taken an entirely different route to the opposition through to the classic, winning four relatively minor races from five starts, but doing it with stunning ease.

He has never come close to being properly tested, something that niggles at Sharrock's mind.

"How do you judge that [rating] 76 and [rating] 83 form?"

Trainer Roger James weighed up even giving Congrats one race beyond 1600m and finally settled on a 2000m at Hastings last week, which the Istidaad gelding won.