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Tony Herlihy enjoyed a pleasant surprise when he saw the field for tonight's $20,000 feature trot at Alexandra Park and it is one that should see him extend his record season further.
The Ardmore horseman set a personal best for New Zealand training wins in a season with victory 63 for the term last Friday night, one better than his 2009 total.
That means the Hall Of Famer has trained 754 winners in New Zealand, almost all since he returned to private training after brother-in-law Mark Purdon moved south in 2002.
All told Herlihy has trained the winners of more than $10 million, which sounds like a lot until you realise he has driven 3322 winners in New Zealand alone for nearly $35 million in stakes, making him our most successful domestic horseman ever.
"It has been another good season and probably two-thirds of my winners have come at Alexandra Park, which is obviously where we prefer to race because of the stakes," says Herlihy.
Stable star Ohoka Punter is back in work and being aimed at the New Zealand Cup but his late-season bonus horse has been former Jewels winner One Over Da Moon, who has joined him for a campaign from southern trainer Paul Nairn.
"He is a lovely trotter to get for a few starts, especially at this time of the year," says Herlihy.
One Over Da Moon has won his past three at Alexandra Park and was initially sent north for racing before heading to the Breeders Crown in Australia, but that trip may now be scrapped in lieu of another $20,000 race here in a few weeks.
It was the presence of another Breeders Crown candidate in Speeding Spur which could have made tonight's sprint tricky for One Over Da Moon, especially under the preferential draw conditions as the 3-year-old would have been hard to catch.
But Herlihy was surprised to see One Over Da Moon draw inside Speeding Spur, which happened because both are open class but Speeding Spur has more in total winning stakes.
"That did surprise me a bit and that helps because it should enable us to settle in front of him," says Herlihy.
"While nothing is guaranteed in racing, his manners have been good and I think I can let him come off the gate and keep working forward."
With the Speeding Spur team looking forward to the riches in Australia next month, they could be conservative and that would suggest One Over Da Moon should be able to find the lead and win.
Herlihy's other top chances tonight are Johnny Fox, driven by Zac Butcher, and his drive The Fascinator in race seven and Vice Consul (R6), even though the last-mentioned has been racing slightly one-paced, he should sit handy without doing any work and get his chance.
Speeding Spur's trainers John and Josh Dickie may be resigned to him losing because of the draw but should still not go home empty-handed.
They have former pacer Scarrymcleary (R8), where the mobile trot conditions suit perfectly and after a huge final mile last start he needs only to behave himself to win.
Stablemate Jabari gets the best draw of the favoured runners in race nine, although he does meet two handy juveniles in Bite The Bullet and Thephantomtollbooth.
Best bet: One Over Da Moon (R5, No 7): Conditions work out beautifully and should lead and win.
Each-way: Bettor Spirits (R7, No 6): Speedster perfectly suited by the 1700m and draw.
Longer odds: Saharazona (R2, No 4): Faded late in same field last start but better drawn tonight.