Riccarton trainer Sandy Cunningham would love to provide Bruce Herd with his 1000th win as a jockey aboard Tipulater tomorrow.
Tipulater is a leading chance in the $75,000 group three Easter Cup Stakes over 1600m at Riccarton, with Herd choosing to ride him in preference to going tothe Hawkes Bay Gold Cup meeting at Hastings.
His 1000th win is proving elusive, as he has been stuck on 999 since Go Kay won at Hastings on April 3. He had a second aboard Juice at Ellerslie last Saturday.
Cunningham and her husband Steve are friends of Herd and his partner, Palmerston North trainer Lisa Latta, and she said it would be a thrill if her best horse, Tipulater, got Herd his milestone.
"That would be really nice, but that's pressure for him isn't it?" she laughed.
"If he gets it before that race the pressure is off. We are good friends so we just hope he gets the 1000 before he leaves."
Herd has a solid book of rides, but Tipulater looks the best of them. He is such an honest horse, Cunningham is sure he will perform well and with his excellent North Island form he rates as one of the favourites for the Canterbury feature.
"I'd say he'd be very competitive," she said.
Herd was on Tipulater when he won at his last start, a listed open handicap on March 29 at Awapuni, the same track at which he almost beat Sir Slick in January.
Cunningham has one worry about her gelding's chance - the weather.
"I just hope the rain stays away. We have had showers today but nothing to affect the track much, but it might cut out a wee bit," she said.
"Tipulater is not quite as good as on a firm track, but he has gone very well on dead tracks." Cunningham hasn't tried him on anything worse than dead.
Cunningham said O'Reilly Rose looked the horse to beat, but noted the presence of Fiscal Madness from the North Island.
That pair were $5 favourites on the TAB's fixed odds market last night, ahead of Tipulater at $5.50.
