Murray Baker has no idea why Viz Vitae completely failed to fire in a Melbourne spring campaign.
The talented Cambridge stayer raced at least six lengths off his true New Zealand form, failing to get anywhere near the money in a handful of starts.
Which is why Baker is exceptionallyinterested in how Viz Vitae performs in tomorrow's $30,000 First Sovereign Trust 2100m at Te Rapa, which is the horse's first start back in New Zealand.
"He got star-struck in his first start over there," said Baker.
"It was a night meeting and he seemed to be startled by how close the crowd was to the track and he pulled very hard during the race, which is just not him. Then his saddle slipped in another race.
"He had a short break when he came back and I'm very pleased with the way he's working."
Viz Vitae is extremely talented at his best and he will need to be to hold out in-form Pretorius.
Trainer Jakki Good and Pretorius' owners were waiting for the weather to decide for them whether they raced the horse at Te Rapa or trekked south for the $80,000 Manawatu Cup.
The other issue was a possible re-handicap for the $200,000 City Of Auckland Cup at Ellerslie on January 1.
Just before midday yesterday the team decided Te Rapa was their best option.
"The indication is that there would be a 1kg re-handicap if he won at Manawatu and possibly half that if he scored at Te Rapa."
Good is hoping the predicted rain stays away. "He has form on wet tracks to his name in Australia, but Brian Mayfield-Smith told us that the horse lost confidence on anything other than firm ground. We don't need for him to be losing any confidence at the moment."
Pretorius bolted in at Otaki on November 24 and won in similar fashion at Avondale since.
Rapid riser Willy Smith has leaped from a R76 to R96 and now jumps to open class. He looks very promising.
