Racing: Standout pair promise top clash

Major races that are touted as being match races more often than not end in disappointment.

Sure, everyone remembers the epic Cox Plate clash of Bonecrusher and Waverley Star but how many also remember the deflation of their over-hyped autumn rematch in the Rawson Stakes?

In that race, both horses were beaten out of sight by a hitherto unknown horse called Myocard.

They never raced each other again.

Hopefully there will be more Cox Plate than Rawson Stakes to tonight's New Zealand Oaks.

For while it would be wildly premature to suggest Foreal and Mainland Banner are the standardbred equivalents of those great Cox Plate combatants, some ingredients for such an epic clash are present.

Foreal is the established star. She has won nine of her 10 starts this season, including Oaks wins at Alexandra and Harold Parks.

Her only defeat came at her first start in Australia before she had properly acclimatised. She can sprint or stay, lead or come from behind.

As for Mainland Banner, all she has done is create more hype than any three-year-old filly in recent memory. She has won all six of her race starts and caused a sensation when breaking a national record at the trials before ever racing.

After that she was sold for a six-figure sum, which trainer Robert Dunn describes as cheap, saying she would be worth three to four times that now.

Dunn scaled harness racing heights with Master Musician in the 1980s and is unhesitating in saying Mainland Banner is the most exciting horse he has had since.

"Yes, definitely," said Dunn. "But it is not just me. She seems to be a horse that gets everyone excited.

"When I was negotiating to buy her there was an amazing buzz around for her.

"She has really bloomed since her last run [in the Southland Oaks]. I took her to Addington this week and she ran a mile and a half in 3:12 with the last quarter in 27 and a bit.

"She had a good blow afterwards and that's good, it was just what she needed."

However, Dunn is wary of the match race tag.

"I've been around long enough to know that there are more than two horses that can win it. Having said that, one of them should win it if they get the run."

Mainland Banner has been ostensibly unkindly treated by the barrier draw, landing position 15 while Foreal got marble two. Dunn isn't about to use that as a pre-emptive excuse, however.

"You can't be worried about it. It looks like there will be a fair bit of pace in the race and I'm confident she can do work and still be hard to bowl. Ricky [driver, May] knows her well enough to put her in the race."

But while the barrier draw may not be definitive, it still provides a clear advantage for Foreal.

"From there she's got the options," said her trainer Tim Butt. "She's good out of the gate and I'm sure she's got as much ability as Mainland Banner. The field does have a fair bit of depth to it but they are the best two. It's just a matter of who gets the better run."

The extent of the two star fillies' dominance was underlined by the TAB bookmakers opening prices of $2.25 for Foreal and $3.25 for Mainland Banner, the latter being a remarkable price for a filly who has never paid more than $1.60 on the tote in her career so far.

NZ Oaks

* Star fillies Foreal and Mainland Banner face off.

* Foreal has won nine of her 10 starts this season.

* Mainland Banner has caused a huge buzz everywhere she's gone.