Sharp N Smart trying to cap special weekend for trainer Graeme Rogerson

Sharp N Smart returns to Te Rapa today where he has previously won the Herbie Dyke Stakes. Photo / Kenton Wright

It would take something special for training legend Graeme Rogerson not to be at home this weekend to put the finishing touches on Sharp N Smart for his pivotal race at Te Rapa today.

But the Victoria Racing Club made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Or more precisely, his wife Debbie wouldn’t let him refuse.

The couple train Sharp N Smart, the former Horse of the Year, who has his second start back this campaign in the open 1600m at a rare Te Rapa Sunday meeting today.

Rogerson expects the big horse to improve on his fresh-up seventh in the Foxbridge Plate but has had to leave the last-minute prep of his stable star to others as he flew to Melbourne on Thursday for a special honour.

“The VRC [Victoria Racing Club] are making me an honorary life member, which I suppose is a big deal when you think how big an institution they are,” Rogerson told the Herald.

“I have been a member of the VRC for 47 years and had a fair bit of success at Flemington so it is a nice honour, but being a racing weekend at home, I didn’t want to go over for the ceremony on Saturday.

“But Debbie told me I had to and to be honest she is right. The VRC has always been very good to us, so I am over here,” said Rogerson from Melbourne.

Sharp N Smart is in the rare position of not being topweight for today’s 1600m with Ladies Man having that distinction after winning two Group 1s since Sharp N Smart last tasted success at the highest level in the NZ Derby at Te Rapa 30 months ago.

He has had his issues since but the ever-confident Rogerson thinks today’s race stacks up nicely for him.

“He was pretty good in the Foxbridge and will be better for that run,” says Rogerson.

“The track will probably be heavier than he likes but he seems to handle Te Rapa well so I think you will see a better horse this week.”

Sharp N Smart and Ladies Man stick out like flashing lights for punters in today’s race but with both carrying big weights and only being second up, and with Group 1 options around the corner, bookies have instead landed on Agera carrying 54kg as the favourite.

Sharp N Smart, who will carry 61.5kg with Matt Cameron in the saddle, is rated a $5.50 hope while Ladies Man, who claims down from 66kg to 62kg with Ashlee Strawbridge aboard, is a $6 chance.

Today’s meeting is the strongest of the domestic racing weekend, with smart gallopers such as Twain, Lhasa and Debit in the main sprint against the likes of Val Di Zoldo, Wild Night and Midnight Scandal.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.