Melbourne Cup: Racing continues at Flemington after the race that stops a nation

Prowess in action. Photo / Kenton Wright

For many casual racing fans, yesterday was the day after the Melbourne Cup. For diehard New Zealand racing fans, it was the day of the draws.

Melbourne Cup week continues at Flemington today and then wraps up with Champions Day on Saturday, which coincides with the first day of New Zealand Cup week in Christchurch.

But punters are very quick to move on to the next major race - and to have races you need barrier draws. They were coming thick and fast yesterday for some of our biggest races of the season in both codes.

First up was the draw for the 2000 Guineas at Riccarton, worth $600,000, and one of the few races in New Zealand that has any real record at producing horses who go on to make commercial stallions.

That won’t be happening if the favourite wins on Saturday because the $1.45 elect Crocetti is a gelding and the race looks his to lose after he drew barrier 1.

With his natural early speed but the fact he was able to trail and still sprint hard to win two starts ago, Crocetti’s only concern should be whether he can run out a fast 1600m.

As important as the Guineas is the signature race of Cup week is the $750,000 IRT NZ Trotting Cup on Tuesday, and it looks perfectly balanced after the two dominant favourites both drew the second line.

Australian visitor Swayzee will start from two on the second line in the 3200m standing start, while favourite Akuta will start from four on the second line.

Those draws negate the chances of either racing to an early uncontested lead so Akuta is probably slightly more favoured by the draw, as he has a more proven track record of coming from back in the field.

The draws saw Akuta retain favouritism at $2.20 and Swayzee drift to $3.50.

Second line draws for favourites will be the story of the day at Addington, where the favourites in all the major pacing races have been lumped together with bad draws.

Our two best three-year-old pacers, Don’t Stop Dreaming and Merlin, have to start from the outside of the front line in the Junior Free-For-All, while unbeaten three-year-old fillies Millwood Nike and Mantra Blue both start from the second line in the Nevele R Fillies Final.

The two pre-draw favourites for the Sires’ Stakes Final for the juvenile pacing boys in Cold Chisel and Chase A Dream also both drew the second line, opening up that race.

As NZ Cup week comes alive, there will be four New Zealand-trained group 1 winners racing on the same card at Flemington on Saturday as their carnival winds down.

Kiwi superstar Imperatriz is a warm favourite for the A$3 million ($3.25m) Champions Sprint after drawing barrier 8 for the straight 1200m, with regular rider Opie Bosson aboard.

Ladies Man has barrier 1 and Bosson in his Melbourne Cup consolation in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, while Mustang Valley will start from barrier 11 in the Matriarch Stakes, again with Bosson in the saddle.

Prowess will start from a seemingly ideal barrier 4 in the A$3m Champions Stakes with Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Mark Zahra aboard.

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.