KEY POINTS:
A protest failed against upset winner Mill Duckie in yesterday's Cambridge Stud 3YO Mile at Ellerslie yesterday and no one was surprised.
Winning rider Tasha Collett was surprised when told there was an inquiry.
Bruce Wallace, trainer of runner-up Sufficient, felt with a half head between the two
horses the protest was justified.
Mill Duckie came off a shocking performance in the Royal Stakes on January 1, but trainer Richard Collett said he knew he shouldn't have taken the under-rated filly to the races that day.
When you saw Mill Duckie in the birdcage on New Year's Day you knew why he felt that way.
She was completely cooked from her fifth to Alagant Satin in the Eight Carat Classic on Boxing Day.
"The only reason I ran her was because Pat [owner Pat Millen] isn't well enough to travel and wanted the filly's runs to be at Auckland," said Collett. Freshened, it was the real Mill Duckie that arrived at Ellerslie yesterday.
In terms of the Derby Sufficient's run was huge.
There was one length to Down The Road and a further 1 lengths to hot favourite Tell A Tale.
His was perhaps the run of the race.
He got back and Troy Harris had to ease his way out from the home corner.
Tell A Tale was spotting the leaders eight lengths at that point and got to within 2.1 lengths of the winner.
Trainer Mark Walker was far from disappointed.
"Yeah, he had no luck."
Troy Harris was delighted.
"I though we were going to run last at the 500m.
"He really got going."
"The question is where we go from here to the Derby?" asked Walker.
In other Derby news, Australian galloper Coniston Bluebird's raid is in doubt after a disappointing run at Randwick on Saturday.
Coniston Bluebird was a well beaten fifth in a six-horse field in an 1800m event won by African Prince, trained by expatriate New Zealander Chris Waller.
Coniston Bluebird's trainer Bede Murray said the trip for the Derby (2400m) at Ellerslie on February 28 was "a little in doubt" because of the performance.
"Things did not go his way. He had 59.5kg and was giving them 5.5kg and they went a very slow first 1200m and with the weight it did not give him any chance," said Murray, who trains on the New South Wales south coast.
" I was hoping he would win that and then head to Auckland, but we are going to monitor him this week and see. It's a bit 50:50 about going because I did expect him to run better, but it was 43C and we just want to see how he comes through it."
If the trip goes ahead, Coniston Bluebird, a gelding, will fly to Auckland on February 9 with a run over 2100m at Ellerslie pencilled in for February 14 as his lead-up to the Derby.
- additional reporting NZPA