Racing: Flying Mile event of two styles

Old Town Road. Photo / Trish Dunell.

For a race that might last only 112 seconds, tonight’s Flying Mile at Cambridge could become two races.

One could contain those who find themselves handy before the field gets to the winning post the first time, the other less competitive race could be for those who don’t.

Both divisions will be fascinating for those hoping for the ultimate guide to next week’s $1 million The Race at the same venue.

Tonight’s sprint contains seven of the 10 starters in New Zealand’s richest race in eight days, but there are three crucial differences: the stake, the distance and the preferential barrier draw.

The latter means supposedly the lesser-assessed horses get the best draws, so many of those up on the speed will be those either not in The Race or not seen as the main winning chances next week.

So tonight could be the grand final for a few but Self Assured, Copy That and even Akuta could end back in the field with no way to improve and their drivers’ thoughts could quickly turn to next week.

With tonight’s race worth 4.5 per cent of next Friday’s huge event, don’t expect drivers to be pulling four wide and doing anything heroic down the back straight, with next week the far juicier target.

Local pacer Nicholas Cage will be one heading forward at the start tonight, while Chimichurri isn’t in The Race so he can be driven aggressively early, which could possibly aid Akuta getting a good run through from the second line.

The best drawn of the proven Group 1 horses is Old Town Road, who had no luck when resuming last start, while Kango could join him.

That leaves horses such as B D Joe potentially working early as trainer Steve Telfer says he is ready for a solid hitout.

“He is really well and hasn’t had a race for a while so a searching run this week won’t hurt him,” says Telfer.

Old Town Road looks the most logical betting option, with driver Zachary Butcher having a great shot at a feature-race double as he should lead and win the three-year-old race with Merlin.