"She was obviously trapped three wide but a horse of her class was entitled to finish closer. I don't know if she was over-trained, under-trained or simply had an off day.
"Her blood was perfect on Thursday so I don't think anything was wrong with her. Our only real option is to turn the page and head to Hastings.
"But we will have a lot bigger problems if she produces another run like that there."
Sharrock was frank about Tavi Mac and his day in general after other stable reps, like Ladies Day, got beaten at short odds.
"We got our arses kicked all day," said Sharrock.
"I said to my partner, things had been going way too well and something had to go wrong eventually. Well, we copped that."
Sharrock's only excuse was Tavi Mac being down on the inside of the track at a stage of the day when it had had plenty of hooves cut into it, but ninth simply wasn't good enough.
"We will run a blood test and all going well he will still be at Hastings."
Saturday's results in the race won by Mascarpone have totally confused the market for the Tarzino, the first Group 1 of the season on September 18.
Avantage remains the $3.20 equal favourite, sharing that line with Catalyst.
Third favourite and awfully short in the market is Dragon Leap, who has only had one start in 18 months and was good without blowing anybody's hair back in his trial at Cambridge last Tuesday.
"He is coming up well and I thought he was very willing in his trial," said co-trainer Andrew Scott.
"We have some work to do to get in to the Tarzino and even if he does get in it is hard to see how he can be at his peak."
Local boy and defending champion Callsign Mav sits on the next line of betting at $7 and starts to appeal because he has fewer recent question marks than some of the other favourites, but it is hard to get excited about his price when he paid $82 to win the same race last season.
While Dragon Leap sits 22nd in the rankings to make the 16-strong Tarzino field he should get in as several high-profile returnees are unlikely to head there.
Richards says Brando is more likely to target a 1200m sprint fresh-up, possibly at Ellerslie if that meeting is held on September 19, while Cornflower Blue races at Taupo on Wednesday so won't be at Hastings.
Frontman, who is safely in the Tarzino field, is more likely to resume in a 1200m at Te Rapa on Saturday while Justacanta, who is also ranked above Dragon Leap, is in Australia where he was caught a bit flat-footed at The Valley on Saturday.
So with those four almost certain not to be at Hastings, Dragon Leap moves from 22nd to 18th in the rankings with doubts over at least one or two others ranked above him.
Meanwhile, Saturday's Breeders Stakes winner Imperatriz will head to the Hastings for the $80,000 Gold Trail Stakes looking to remain unbeaten in four starts and on a path to the 1000 Guineas at Riccarton.
"The Guineas at Riccarton has to be the goal at this stage even though the 1600m might be at the end of her range because she is so brilliant," says Richards.
