KEY POINTS:
Allan Sharrock won't be devastated if tomorrow's $100,000 Opunake Cup is Don't Ya Lovett's last win on the flat.
He'd like that not to be the case, of course, but the Taranaki trainer is a realist.
Sharrock knows that Don't Ya Lovett will be weighted out of every
decent handicap if he wins tomorrow on his home track.
"If he wins this race he'd get 60kg in the Winter Cup and you can't win with weights like that."
Top galloper Cog Hill was nominated for tomorrow's race and received 60.5kg, probably pushing the three at the top of the handicap as it stands down a fraction to 58kg.
Sharrock says he sees no option but to aim Don't Ya Lovett at a hurdling career.
"I'm not complaining about the handicapping - the horse has won the money - but it's a shame to curtail the [flat] career of such a nice horse.
"If he wins this he becomes a weight-for-age horse and where do you find weight-for-age races on wet ground - there's only one, the Foxbridge Plate [at Te Rapa, August 18].
"If he is unlucky and storms home into second or third on Saturday then perhaps he's a chance to run in the Winter Cup, otherwise we'll probably look at the Foxbridge Plate then a hurdling career. He finished second to Bulginbaar in the Foxbridge last year with Seachange third and I thought he was a little unlucky."
A bleeding attack saw Don't Ya Lovett stood down for three months after pulling up in Pentane's win at Paeroa last September and it has taken three runs this time to have him fit for this.
Sharrock has naturally been mindful of last year's bleeding in the early stages of the horse's current preparation.
"You don't crank them up too hard too early."
Sharrock said he knew the horse would come back to his best form judged on his work after Danielle Johnson rode him into fifth behind Cog Hill at Ellerslie on June 2.
"His sectionals sharpened tremendously after that."
At his only subsequent start Don't Ya Lovett flashed home from last to be narrowly beaten over 1150m at Te Awamutu.
"He's not an 1150m type - in fact he's a 2000m horse, which is why I've kept him as fresh as I can for this 1400m. Everything about him suggests he's on track and we're very positive about him.
"I'm pleased to have Michael [Walker] on him, which I see as a real positive."
Sharrock sees El Perez and Polish Princess as the two main dangers.
"He's got to give one [El Perez] 2.5kg and the other 4kg. That's not going to make it easy for him."
Polish Princess is one from one on the New Plymouth course and has not raced since producing a typically gutsy performance to win at Te Rapa on June 9. The 1400m is an ideal distance for the Matamata mare.
In-form Kenadaad and Floydeboy have not previously raced at New Plymouth.
Floydeboy followed a break with two sprint races to get ready for this. Before that he beat a top line-up in the group one Champions Mile at Ellerslie in April and was a very unlucky effort at Awapuni 11 days later.
He is right up to winning this.
So is Kenadaad. The 59kg helped beat him when Bellevue Lass narrowly got over the top of him at Te Awamutu last start.
Before that he won three straight with performances that showed he does not enjoy getting beaten.
$100,000 Opunake Cup
* Class act Don't Ya Lovett has come back from a bleeding attack to steadily get fit for this race.
* Trainer Allan Sharrock says the horse is exactly where he wants him to be for the big test.
* If he wins, Don't Ya Lovett will probably be looking at a hurdling career with prohibitive handicaps forcing an end to his career on the flat.
* Sharrock sees El Perez and Polish Princess as the main dangers in an excellent field.