Racing: Training duties to sideline McKendry

Maurice McKendry has a serious pacer in Mr Bojangles.

For the first time in his career Maurice McKendry's small-time training is costing him drives.

The top driver will miss nearly 20 drives over the weekend as he sits in Methven waiting for one race.

But he believes it is worth it.

McKendry has headed south to Addington to prepare the star of his three-horse stable, Mr Bojangles, for Saturday night's $100,000 Easter Cup.

While he has trained in the past McKendry has never had a top horse with whom he had to travel, so this week is a new experience for him.

"It is a little strange to be missing meetings like Cambridge [tomorrow night] and Hawera [Saturday] as they have been my bread and butter for a long time.

"But it is also exciting having a nice horse to train, so I don't mind."

McKendry's move means he is finally experiencing the situations Tony Herlihy, the only New Zealand reinsman to have driven more winners than him, has had to endure since he took up full-time training five years ago.

He believes it could all be worthwhile on Saturday night as Mr Bojangles tackles mixed opposition.

With the Interdominions later this season and New Zealand's best pacer, Mainland Banner, in the north, the Easter Cup is nowhere near as strong as the great fields of a decade ago.

"It will still be hard to win but looking at the field I think we made the right decision to come down," said McKendry.

That decision was made a lot easier when Mr Bojangles ran on well for fifth in the Auckland Cup last month.

On that occasion he started off the same mark as Mi Muchacho and Imagine That - on Saturday he will get a 20m start from the grey pacer and 10m from Imagine That.

McKendry's biggest concern before Mr Bojangles hopped on the transporter last Friday was how he would handle his his first trip away from home.

"He is the sort of horse who can get a bit uptight but he has been really good. He has settled in well and I will give him a good workout tomorrow [today] to get him spot on.

"It won't be an easy race to win but he is a good stayer and as long as he steps well from barrier one he will be in it."

Like many of his rival drivers McKendry knows his charge will have a big task holding out favourite Mi Muchacho, who was a gutsy second after failing to handle the final bend in the lead-up race last Friday.

"He looks the best horse here but he faces a big task from the 20m mark in a large field."

Also helping Mr Bojangles is the fact two of the up-and-comers in the field, Baileys Dream and Onedin Legacy, will have to start off the second line because they are unruly.

That means Mr Bojangles is one of the few off the front line with any real form in open-class racing.

The 4-year-old warmed up for this week's race with a solid win at the Alexandra Park workouts last Tuesday, pacing his last 800m in 58 seconds when downing Badlands Bute.

The later is ironically one of the star drives McKendry has had to bypass at Cambridge tomorrow night because of his southern commitment.

Mr Bojangles will return north next week to prepare for his two other major targets this campaign, the Taylor Mile (April 28) and Messenger Pace (May 5).

Those races could also feature Mainland Banner, Baileys Dream, Dudinka's Cullen, Badlands Bute, Presido, Mighty Cullen, Mr Williams and River Waltz, so they are shaping as the strongest Alexandra Park races of the season.

While the Easter Cup will be the highlight of Saturday night's meeting it also features the return of last season's 3-year-old trotting freak One Over Kenny in a new $30,000 race for 4-year-olds.

She is not the only big-name trotter on show, though, Her stablemate Allegro Agitato is set to dominate betting on a $15,000 mobile trot and juvenile superstar Constar continues his rampage through the non-tote grades.

* The field for the Easter Cup is: Mr Bojangles (1), Mighty Cullen (2), Double R (3), Keeprightondreaming (4), Waipawa Lad (5), Nursemaid (6), Bella's Boy (7), Lucky (8), Aveross Seelster (9), Lilly Laingtree (10), Millwood Touche (11), Clifford Jasper (12), Baileys Dream (Ur), Man With The Money (Ur), Onedin Legacy (Ur) fr, Imagine That (1) 10, Mi Muchacho (1) 20.
Emergencies: Double R, Man With The Money.