Racing: That old familiar feeling returns

It took about one minute of the pre-race warm-up before the Spring Cup at Alexandra Park on Friday night for Todd Mitchell to break out into a huge smile.

Mitchell knew immediately in the preliminary warm-up that the "real" Just An Excuse was back in attendance at the home of North Island harness racing.

Although Mitchell was happy enough with Just An Excuse's first-up fourth placing a week ago behind Myron, he also knew something was missing from the massive equine frame of the 7-year-old.

Just An Excuse was "dead" in that race according to Mitchell, lacking the usual aggression that is associated with the dual New Zealand Cup winner who has won nearly $1 million.

While all honours in the Spring Cup were with the front-running winner Mi Muchacho nothing could be taken away from the effort of Just An Excuse to get within a neck of the first placed runner at the finish.

Mi Muchacho was allowed a soft lead time in front and sealed the victory with a closing 400m sprint of 27.7 seconds.

Just An Excuse sat four back on the outer and was three wide for the closing 400 metres reeling in the winner with massive strides over the closing 50 metres.

"Last week Just An Excuse was dead in his prelim before the race and he raced like a horse not quite himself," said Mitchell.

"Dad [trainer Robert Mitchell] and the farrier have spent a lot of time this week rebuilding the off-side front hoof including gluing up the hoof and putting a bigger shoe on him.

"It's clearly worked as he took about three or four strides when he got out on the track and was full of himself and wanted to be there.

"I knew he'd go a very good race and he really lengthened stride and sprinted strongly when I pulled him out at the 500 metre mark to sprint forward around the field.

"The [Harness Racing New Zealand] handicapper will decide if Just An Excuse races in the North Shore City Stakes on October 14.

"If the horse gets a tough handicap mark Dad won't start him in the race and he'll instead head to Christchurch a little earlier and most probably start in the Ashburton Flying Stakes [October 24].

"A week ago I was quite worried about the chances of Just An Excuse completing a hat-trick of wins in the New Zealand Cup but after his run this week I'm very confident he's capable of achieving it."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY