Racing: Owner puts Cup plans on hold

Miss Sharapova may have looked like a next-up Wellington Cup contender with her grinding weekend win, but Matamata co-trainer Ken Kelso is unconvinced.

Seconds after her Speight's Stayers 2100m victory at Ellerslie on Saturday, Kelso, who trains and owns the mare with wife Bev, indulged the idea of making a late nomination for the $200,000 group two at Trentham on Saturday week.

But then the niggling doubt he has over the group-placed mare coping with 2400m against the country's best stayers resurfaced and those plans were back on hold. "She's still probably one year away; she's still only four," said Kelso, who also co-owned his 2006 Wellington Cup winner Envoy.

"We are aiming for the Summer Cup on the last day [an R90 event also over 2400m] but I still have this question mark with her going past 2200m."

Kelso, however, said he's having a lot of fun with the $8000 Karaka yearling, first spotted on his behalf by agent Dean Hawthorne because the trainer "was too crook" that year to do his usual homework.

The Ustinov mare's placings last season included a third in the group three Lowland Stakes before a fourth in the group one New Zealand Oaks (2400m) behind Keep The Peace. "I've always rated her highly; she was just a bit weak last year," said Kelso.

Kelso and regular rider Michael Coleman figured the best way to beat Bone Of Contention on Saturday was to have the last run at the hot favourite.

The plan worked to a tee with Coleman tracking James McDonald all the way before hooking out wide to overhaul a brave Bone Of Contention by a long head.

Cambridge co-trainer Tony Pike said yesterday that Bone Of Contention will now go out for a short break, scrapping plans for a possible Wellington-Auckland Cup assault this campaign.

"He's still a bit weak for the cup races at this stage; he'll now have a short let-up before being tried again in the autumn," said Pike.

It was McDonald's turn two races later, however, to pounce late on last season's top-rated juvenile Banchee for a nose win in the 2011 Cambridge Stud Yearling Draft 3YO.

That was Banchee's first win since the group one Auckland Diamond Stakes on the course last March, ending a frustrating wait for a return to winning form for her camp.

Matamata trainer John Sargent said the Oratorio filly would now back up in the Karaka Three-Year-Old Mile at Ellerslie on January 30.

"She's taken a long time to come up this prep, but it was good to see her hit the line strongly again," said Sargent.

Banchee is also nominated for the New Zealand Derby in March in which she's an early $41 fixed odds fancy with the TAB.

One of the most eye-catching Derby trials on Saturday came from runner-up Historian, a firming $21 chance for the $2.2 million feature in March.

In just his fourth career start, and conceding half a kilogram to Banchee - the winner of more than $300,000 - the big raw-boned gelding looked desperately short of ring-craft on the turn.

Rider Chad Ormsby had him travelling sweetly in behind the pacemaking Born To Rock until he was shouldered out of the way by a challenging Yin Yang Master.

For a stride or two he looked the first beaten, but then lifted again in the manner of a horse already looking for further than 1600m.

Co-trainer Tony Pike said he'll get that chance next-up in the Waikato Guineas (2000m) at Te Rapa on February 5, a race that's shaping as a fascinating first Derby dress rehearsal.

"Chad and I have been working a lot to get him to settle and the horse probably took it to the extreme yesterday [on Saturday]," said Pike.

"He was half asleep outside the leader into the straight and it took him a furlong to wake up and work out what he was supposed to be doing again.

"That was good to see from a Derby point of view."