Racing: Stone bruise overcome to blast away rivals

By BARRY STREET

Martin Craze was relieved that his consistent galloper Star Wars was able to justify his hot favouritism at Ellerslie on Saturday.

Craze nearly scratched the lightly raced 6-year-old from the Covers and Others 1600 after the track had been declared heavy with a penetrometer reading of 5.2.

"My fear was that after a stone bruise a week ago and missing some work the horse might not see out the 1600m on such a wet track," the Pukekohe owner-trainer said. "The only reason I ran him was because the opposition wasn't that strong."

Conservatively ridden by Leith Innes, Star Wars bravely overcame his 58kg topweight by three-quarters of a length to extend his record to three wins and seven placings from 12 starts.

Foot problems have been a bane for Star Wars, who is said to have hooves mainly of fibre glass.

Despite those, Craze hopes to qualify the horse for the New Zealand Cup in November.

"He could back up again next week at Te Rapa or at Awapuni the following Saturday," Craze said.

"It depends how he comes through this [race]. His sore foot needs tubbing daily.

"I'm pretty sure he'll go over more ground later on."

Former top jockey Bob Vance claims that Creme De Honor, trained by his wife, Jenny, is also a terrible trackworker.

"I ride him most times, and he can run his first 600m in 37 [seconds] and his second in 43," Vance said after the horse's all-the-way win in the Carters Your Building Partner Handicap on Saturday.

On racedays, though, Creme De Honor can be very genuine - especially on rain-affected footing.

"His record of six wins and six placings from 17 starts proves that.

"Luck was against him in Brisbane this winter. He managed only a second but struck only the one wet track."

Creme De Honor may not have any more racing this year, Vance said.

"At the most he'll have only the one more. He's been up a long time."

New Plymouth trainer Ian Adams is keen to run Vyner's Lane in the $25,000 Westbury Farm Foxbridge Plate 1400m at Te Rapa next Saturday.

Three factors that weigh heavily against the 5-year-old for the listed weight-for-age 1400m are his lack of recent racing and his preferences for handicap racing and 1200m.

All his six wins have been at 1200m - the latest fresh from a two-month let-up in the $18,000 Bijou D'Inde Sprint at Ellerslie on Saturday.

Backing up so soon again next Saturday, particularly at weight-for-age, would be quite an ask, Adams admits.

"He finished second over 1400m one day, and I reckon the only reason he hasn't won at the distance is because he pulls so hard.

"I deliberately asked Mark Du Plessis to take hold of him and ride him further back than usual today.

"That worked out pretty well, so hopefully the horse will have learned from that experience.

"Hopefully, too, second up, he won't be so keen to run."

Former champion apprentice Opie Bosson agrees with today's whiz kid, Michael Walker, that you have to think like a horse to be a successful jockey.

Bosson had his first win as a fully fledged jockey on Saturday, on a horse trained by his mentor, Stephen Autridge, of Matamata.

But Classic Fortune, for all his excellent bloodlines, by Classic Fame from Latitude, is no easy ride.

The horse's worst habit, putting it mildly, is over-racing.

Even in trackwork he goes so keenly he finishes breathless and his riders with arm fatigue.

Bosson used guile in the Generous Handicap, a class four 2100m, allowing the ignorant Classic Fortune a comfortable lead, crouching well forward and "kidding" to the horse until a challenger appeared.

The result was a surprising rally by Classic Fortune and a neck win over favourite Yarradarno.