KEY POINTS:
If there was a sight better for John Wheeler than seeing Stand Tall winning Saturday's $75,000 Gold Club Metropolitan Trophy at Riccarton, it was watching the horse in his paddock yesterday.
The Taranaki trainer couldn't wait to check Stand Tall out yesterday.
Stand Tall looked the horse to
beat in next Saturday's $220,000 Christchurch Casino NZ Cup when he dashed clear on Saturday, but just winning wasn't good enough for his connections.
Wheeler knew the crucial factor was how Stand Tall came through the race.
Stand Tall cannot take successive runs on very firm tracks and Wheeler knew he was out of NZ Cup business if Stand Tall jarred up.
"When I got to him today he was rearing and kicking out in his paddock, so that race has taken no toll on him," said Wheeler yesterday.
"He'll be fine now he's come through that race very well."
Stand Tall was ridden by Paul taylor on Saturday and will have apprentice James McDonald on his back in Saturday's tough 3200m.
Another bit of good news for Wheeler is his decision to go forward to the $1 million First Sovereign Trust 2000 Guineas with Juice.
The classy filly had a tough run chasing Daffodil home in Saturday's 1000 Guineas, but Wheeler says she is similarly unaffected.
"She seems fine. She's eaten everything and seems full of the joys of living."
The interesting factor of the country's first million-dollar Guineas is how do the colts measure up against the fillies?
There have been flashes of crossover, but Juice running against the likes of Fully Fledged and Kildonan will give the definitive answer.
Lunus looked a horse ready to promote himself to higher grades when he won only narrowly, but impressively in the rating 90 1600m for trainer Jeff Lynds.
He was not at the meeting, preferring to stay home in Palmerston North, but was to fly south to judge whether Lunus has come through that race sufficiently well to justify running in the $270,000 Coupland's Bakeries Mile on Wednesday.
"I may not back him up.
"I might, instead, look at races like the Counties Cup. He'd get in at a nice weight and he'd be competitive."
Tootsie got the win she deserved when she managed to work past pacemaker Magic Tryst in the main sprint at Te Rapa on Saturday.
The Te Rapa track, remarkable in being upgraded from a 6 to a 4 then to a 3, tended to favour horses swooping down the middle of the track, which greatly suited the fast-finishing Tootsie and made the effort of pacemaker and runner up Magic Tryst sound.
Dashing Donna struck trouble and looked good finishing strongly into fourth.
Ruud Van Slaats overcame 58kg and a tendency to wander a little to score her first win this preparation and earlier Sircross beat Loral Lady and Lovetrista, who once again appeared to duck away from the whip.