Brent Mangos has fired the first tactical shots of the $900,000 The Race at Cambridge on Thursday with South Coast Arden.
If the Pukekohe trainer-driver gets his way his second favourite will be settling a long way in front of favourite Self Assured in the big-money slot race.
The two favourites drew potentially the worst two barriers when South Coast Arden got barrier seven and Self Assured the outside of the gate, barrier eight, for the 2200m mobile.
Picture hrnz.co.nz
Self Assured’s trainer-driver Mark Purdon says he expects to pull back at the start and move into the race later, tactics he also expected from Mangos on South Coast Arden. Mangos has other ideas.
“I will be working forward,” he told the New Zealand Herald. “I will make my mind up how fast that happens after 50m when I see what is happening inside me, but I have to go forward.
“So that could be nice and easy early and let them sort themselves out and then roll forward or maybe a little quicker than that.”
South Coast Arden beat Self Assured twice over the summer when able to lead, including in the Group 1 New Zealand Free-For-All at Addington.
He also led to produce the performance of Jewels day last June when he bullied his way to the front from barrier seven over 1700m and, with the potential some of the Australian speedsters drawn inside him could be happy to trail South Coast Arden, an aggressive Mangos has a shot at getting the lead.
That would completely change the dynamic of The Race by Grins and potentially force Self Assured to come sit parked in the middle stages, his least favourite tactic and similar to what he was forced to do when South Coast Arden beat him on both occasions.
Mangos says South Coast Arden is exactly where he needs to be for Thursday’s inaugural running of The Race, his preparation having been topped off by a trial at Cambridge last Thursday.
“I couldn’t have asked him to trial any better than he did last week so he is ready.”
South Coast Arden is on the second line of betting at $4.50 for Thursday, with Self Assured remarkably not budging from his pre-draw price of $2.40 even after drawing the worst possible barrier.
“We didn’t want to move him too much because we think punters will come later in the week for the Purdon factor,” said TAB bookmaker Matt Peden.
“The futures betting on The Race has been massive and the interest very high, so it has definitely created far more of a buzz than we probably expected.”
Cambridge chief executive David Branch says there was still a couple of hospitality tables available for the night, which starts at 6.05pm with the last of eight races at 9.20pm before entertainment through to just before midnight.
“We are really focussing on general admission and getting people to come enjoy the night in a relaxed fun way,” says Branch.
“There is supposed to be rain in the days leading up to Thursday but it is forecast at this stage to be gone by the afternoon of The Race and we want to make it a fun night because this is all something new and we want to start with a bang.”
