Racing: NZ stars off the pace in Victoria Cup odds

By MICHAEL GUERIN

Australian bookies have written off New Zealand's two best pacers in tomorrow night's Victoria Cup.

The $A250,000 Moonee Valley thriller has attracted the best field of the season, so both Holmes D G and Yulestar could have picked a better time to draw badly.

Yulestar will have to start off the second line and while it appears Holmes D G has fared better with barrier five, it may not work out that way.

There is plenty of gate speed inside him and although most of his group one wins in Australian have been all-the-way efforts, it is hard to see Holmes D G reaching the pacemaking role tomorrow night.

Those drawn inside him include Safe And Sound (barrier three) and Courage Under Fire (four). The latter's trainer-driver, Brian Hancock, says he can lead on the pocket rocket.



Courage Under Fire has bounced back from his recent cold but goes into the event without a race for two months.

Yet he is still rated a better chance than New Zealand's two millionaire representatives.

Courage Under Fire is paying $7 with the Melbourne Betting Shop, making him the equal second favourite with his Miracle Mile conqueror, Smooth Satin.

They are still well behind defending Victorian Cup champ Shakamaker, who is short at $3 after drawing barrier two on the second line.

Shakamaker's chances could be aided by stablemate Safe And Sound's draw, as that gelding has a great chance of holding out Courage Under Fire for the lead. From there, Safe And Sound would almost certainly hand the pacemaking role over to Shakamaker if pressured later in the race.

Holmes D G has drifted to $9 with most Australian bookies while Yulestar is paying $11, even though he has not run a bad race in three months.

The Interdominion champion was troubled by a slight back complaint when third to Shakamaker in the Ballarat Cup last start, but faces an enormous task from his second-line draw.

In his favour, however, will be the presence of fellow stayers Atitagain and Jofess, who could apply pressure in the middle stages if the pace drops off, and turn the race into a gutbuster, which would favour Yulestar.

The race was robbed of its third Kiwi contender when Pic Me Pockets was passed over in favour of moderate Tasmanian pacer Prodigious and Sydney speedster Seelster Sam, even though the latter has yet to cause a ripple on the Grand Circuit.

And the New Zealand assault on the Victoria Derby has been reduced to three, with Tricky Vic going into tomorrow night's heat officially a West Australian.

He was to have been trained for the Derby by Barry Purdon but was taken over by new trainer Mark Read in a surprise move on Tuesday.