Racing: Smiling Shard likely to miss feature Derby

Smiling Shard is still recovering from a leg injury. Photo / Richard Robinson

New Zealand's star 3-year-old pacer is set to miss the $500,000 Woodlands Northern Derby.

Smiling Shard is likely to be pulled out of the March 12 classic as Canterbury trainer Cran Dalgety struggles to get him fit enough for the big time.

Smiling Shard missed this month's Victoria Derby after suffering a minor leg injury, after which Dalgety set his sights on Alexandra Park.

Now that dream also seems to be fading.

"I worked him yesterday and he went 2400m in 3:23, which tells me he just isn't ready for a tough Derby series," said Dalgety.

"We are probably about two weeks behind where we want to be and I'd say it is about 80 per cent certain we won't be there.

"It is a really tough one to swallow because it is worth $500,000 and is the biggest race of the season for him but we will just have to cop it."

Smiling Shard has not raced since winning the $250,000 Sales Series Pace at Alexandra Park on December 31, which capped a remarkable year in which he also won the Sires' Stakes Final, Harness Jewels and Australasian Breeders Crown.

He was close to the top of the Derby markets when they were first released but has drifted out to $5.50 because of his injury.

That leaves Victoria Derby runner-up Sir Lincoln as the $3.50 favourite for Australasia's richest 3-year-old pace.

While Dalgety will not have his superstar 3-year-old at the Auckland Cup carnival, which begins in nine days, stable star Bettors Strike takes his next step towards the meeting at the Addington trials today.

The most-improved pacer in the country has won the Victoria, Cranbourne and Tasmania Cups this summer after chasing home Monkey King in the New Zealand Cup.

Dalgety allowed him to miss the Interdominions being run in Sydney at the moment to concentrate on the $500,000 Trillian Trust Auckland Cup on March 12.

"He will need his trial because he is looking a bit pretty but that and a trip north on Thursday will help a lot."

Bettors Strike will contest the NZ Herald Free-For-All on March 5 as his final lead-up to the cup.

Dalgety says he has no regrets about missing the Interdominions, even though the Kiwis could dominate the series after first-round heat wins by Monkey King and Bondy.

"I think our horses look better than theirs at the moment," he said yesterday.

"Really, it looks Monkey King's series to lose because he just killed them the other night and looks right at the top of his game."

Early indications are that all the New Zealand-trained runners in the Interdominions are likely to return home and head straight to the Auckland Cup, with Bondy the most likely to bypass the Alexandra Park classic.

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New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing chairman Guy Sargent is vowing to continue the battle to get the One Racing concept accepted, despite Harness Racing New Zealand slamming the door shut on Monday.

The One Racing concept involves the thoroughbred, harness and greyhound codes merging with the New Zealand Racing Board, which runs the TAB, into one body.

NZTR, which is pushing the proposal, says it could result in cost savings of $11.6 million a year.

The initial reaction of the harness and greyhound codes was that it was a power grab by the gallops folk and should be rejected, though they were interested in sharing management services.

The Racing Board supports the proposal and NZTR's clubs backed it at its annual meeting last month.

Miffed by a lack of response to a letter it wrote in December asking questions about the One Racing proposal, HRNZ indicated on Monday that it had had enough.

At its meeting last week, its executive decided to reject the One Racing proposal outright, saying it would not be involved in any further review of such a governance structure.

"The resolutions agreed to reaffirm HRNZ's belief that code governance must be retained independent of the NZRB and other codes," HRNZ general manager Edward Rennell said.

But HRNZ would support further exploration of shared administrative services with NZRB and the other codes.

It suggested a committee be set up with two appointees from each body.

Sargent was disappointed, but would continue to try to convince HRNZ and New Zealand Greyhound Racing of the merits of the proposal.

"Harness, obviously, don't want to meet with us at this stage, but that is not the end of it for us.

"We are doing what we are doing for the good of the total industry, we are not doing it just for thoroughbreds. We won't give up. We will have to convince them somehow."

He said it was unfortunate that the Racing Board had not replied to the HRNZ questions earlier, which he put down to the Christmas break.

The committee set up to pursue the One Racing proposal will meet next week.

- Additional reporting: NZPA