KEY POINTS:
You could excuse Matamata trainer Gary Hennessy for wanting to count the hurdles before the first race at Avondale today.
Late last month he trekked to Trentham with his big La-Z-Boy Chair Hurdle chance Repete only to find the club had left one obstacle out.
"They told me
they'd borrowed the fences from Otaki and were one short," said an angry Hennessy.
"So they took a fence out down the back leaving only two fences there. They were running forever without seeing a jump and that doesn't suit my horse."
To make matters worse, Repete and rider Phillip Turner found themselves trapped three wide for most of the 2900m.
Repete still boxed on bravely, however, for a close-up third to Mexican Wave in his first race since October last year.
Factor in the natural improvement and the 2.5kg claim Turner gets off Repete today, and you have an idea of why Hennessy is so confident his 9-year-old will go close second-up.
Around this time last year Repete had the Hawkes Bay Hurdles in the bag at the second to last fence, only to be out-muscled by Royal Kiwi late.
Hennessy has the same race in mind on June 30 for Repete, safely through the Avondale assignment.
Hennessy says Repete was struck by a virus early in the chasing phase of his last campaign and was never the same horse in subsequent starts.
But after a long break and an off-season of hunting, Hennessy reckons Repete, one of the smoothest jumpers in the business, has come back stronger than ever.
The Grand National Steeplechase (5600m) at Riccarton on August 11 is his main target.
Repete was headed there last year until the virus hit around the time he had Grand National star Imanace at full stretch to beat him at Otaki.
Today's $50,000 Pick6 is also not a chase for the faint-hearted.
But the Murray Baker-trained Material Girl at least offers the chance of an anchor in race nine.
She won stylishly on debut in the Te Awamutu mud last August before two eye-catching efforts to weigh-in against listed company.
The Al Akbar filly ran fifth to Chartreuse at Wanganui, and then fourth to Imananabaa in the Soliloquy Stakes at Ellerslie.
Her unlucky last-start sixth to the exciting Hamlet's Ghost at Ellerslie bodes well for her second career win today.
Rider that day David Walsh was stopped in his tracks when angling for a rails run near the 250m peg, leaving Material Girl a little flat-footed when daylight finally appeared.
The extra 200m today will suit and Material Girl meets nothing close to that level of opposition in the R70 1600m.