Allan Sharrock special expected as Tisse red-hot for QEII Cup at Ellerslie

Tisse bolted in at Trentham last start and is expected to repeat at Ellerslie today. Photo / Peter Rubery

Tisse has the feeling of an “Allan Sharrock special” heading into today’s $250,000 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Ellerslie.

The Taranaki trainer is one of the most feared by bookies and respected by punters when he sets a horse for a race, especially anything past 1600m, when handicaps and timing become so important.

And Sharrock says Tisse has been set for today’s 2400m Group 3 and will then reload for the Auckland Cup on March 7.

“This race has been the aim,” Sharrock told the Herald.

“He has been to Ellerslie so he has track experience, he travels well but we have raced him in the right races so he hasn’t copped a big weight.

“He is spot-on and I think he will win but I still think he is too short with the TAB, we would have liked $3 instead of $2.”

Tisse bolted in at Trentham last start and the fact he has won at Ellerslie is a major plus. That runs in the family, as his dam is a half-sister to 2011 Auckland Cup winner Titch.

It is rare to see favourites in any black-type Cup at $2 and there is actually some good staying depth in the race, with Trust In You having won this race two years ago, Gigi and The Odyssey being placegetters in the Waikato Cup last start and Final Return this year’s Counties Cup winner, while Blue Sky At Night won two big Cups last season.

But the most interesting form might belong to Aftermath, who was fourth in the Livamol on this track at Group 1 weight-for-age and started in the Zabeel Classic on Boxing Day.

So Sharrock is right on two counts: Tisse should win but his $2 is a touch too short.

MAIDENS CHASE GROUP 2 VICTORY

It may seem strange seeing a maiden as the favourite for the Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes today but Ohope Wins is not alone.

Remarkably, half of the 14-strong field are maidens, as the three-year-old fillies step up to 2000m on the path to the NZ Oaks at Ellerslie next month.

“She might only be a maiden but she is a pretty good one,” says co-trainer Andrew Scott.

“She was very good to the line at Te Rapa last start and she is bred to stay 2000m and further, so we think she is a good chance, albeit we were surprised she opened favourite.”

With our best fillies like Well Written and Lollapalooza sticking to shorter trips for the Karaka Millions and NZB Kiwi, the title of our best staying filly is very open, with today potentially a huge guide to what lies ahead in the next two months.

The best each-way value in the Sir Patrick Hogan could be Origin Of Love, who was fifth in the NZ 1000 Guineas and a strong second to a good filly, War Princess, last start.

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.