Racing: Hope rides on getting away well

Great Northern Derby winner Monkey King has the talent to win tonight, but could be beaten by the standing start.

Steven Reid is going to employ one of the oldest tricks in racing when Monkey King resumes at Cambridge tonight.

He is going to cross his fingers and hope for the best.

Not that the Pukekohe trainer has any doubts Monkey King is good enough to win the Te Awamutu Cup - but he has huge concerns over whether the horse will actually get into the race.

The Great Northern Derby winner is having his first racenight standing start and Reid admits to having little confidence the four-year-old will handle it smoothly.

"If he steps away safely I think he won't get beat," said Reid, "but I think that he is only about 30 per cent likely to step."

Monkey King missed the start the only time he lined up from behind the tapes at the Pukekohe workouts last week, and, during a private practice session on Tuesday, quickly went downhill.

"He was good the first one, slow the second and completely messed up the third," Reid said.

Monkey King is hardly the sort of pacer you would expect to pick up a specialised skill like standing start racing quickly, as he indicated by costing punters thousands when refusing to go away in a mobile start race at Alexandra Park last season.

But if he does step safely Reid says he is a winner.

"If he doesn't make a mistake he should win because he is flying at the moment.

"I couldn't be happier with his work and even though we usually drive him for speed he is tough enough to stay handy from the front line."

If Monkey King does miss away that will make the race for Mr Bojangles, who is returning to the Cambridge track on which he starred over the summer.

Trainer Maurice McKendry still has the New Zealand Cup as an option for Mr Bojangles and he looked forward for his resumption when beating some of our leading pacers in a workout at Pukekohe nine days ago.

He faces a 20m handicap tonight but it is only a small field and there are no horses off 10m so if he makes a good beginning he should settle midfield.

If he does that, much will depend on the tempo and where Monkey King settles, with McKendry probably reluctant to give Mr Bojangles too tough a run if the pace is hot.

The race is an intriguing leg of the $75,000 Pick6, which appears to have two anchors.

Gotta Go Cullen looks a certainty in a five-horse Sires' Stakes heat, in which he should simply muscle his way to the lead and win.

And Springfield Master is thrown in as a four-win horse against mostly maidens in race nine, having won a similar race two starts ago by six lengths.

* Reid believes his other stable star, Baileys Dream, is ready for a successful comeback at Alexandra Park tomorrow night.

The Easter Cup winner faces hot opposition in the Spring Cup, but indicated his readiness when he scored a strong win at the Alexandra Park workouts on Tuesday.

"I only started aiming him at this race about 10 days ago but he is on target," said Reid.

"A lot will depend on how he steps because not many horses in the Spring Cup will be looking for a hard run.

"But I think he is stronger mentally and physically than he was last season."