The IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup market has been turned on its head by an incredible piece of bad luck for defending champion Self Assured.
The long-time favourite will start from the second line in Tuesday’s $600,000 classic, and while that puts him back with South Coast Arden – who is on the unruly – both horses will have to give Auckland pacer and the race’s other favourite Copy That a start as he has drawn the front line.
So too have two of the fastest beginners in the race in Pembrook Playboy and Classie Brigade, who will start from barriers three and four respectively should the emergencies not make the field.
Self Assured’s draw is not a total horror show as he is at two on the second line with no horses immediately outside him because the next three horses are rated unruly and therefore have to stand wider and a little further back.
But those who were taking his $2 pre-draw price will feel a lot less comfortable now traffic and tempo will come more into play than they did last year when he was able to lead, then trail and roar clear at the top of the Addington straight.
He has been awfully unlucky to end up on the second line as Addington’s 3200m start sees 10 on the front and five on the second line, with horses moving forward from the second line draw when the emergencies come out to fill out that 10.
Until Monday, both Kango and Henry Hubert were rated unruly and had they remained so, there would have been five unruly horses in the field of 15, meaning the other 10 all had to start on the front line.
But when the connections of Henry Hubert and Kango took them off the unruly, it meant two of the starters were going to be unlucky enough to draw the second line.
That saw him re-open at $2.70 with the NZ TAB, while Copy That’s wide front-line draw looks almost ideal and he is into $4.50. South Coast Arden, who has been incredibly short in the market all spring, is back out to $5, not through any fault but as the enormity of his task comes more sharply into focus.
Those handy front line draws for Pembrook Playboy ($5.50) and Classie Brigade ($7.50) raise the scenario of them finding the early lead and trail, so they are far more likely to be players than had they lost the second line draw lotto.
The other pacing Group 1 on the card is the $170,000 Woodlands Stud Sires’ Stakes Final, where the two big guns are drawn almost next to each other and look set to dominate with Republican Party at barrier one and Franco Indie at three.
The NZ Trotting Free-For-All sees Bolt For Brilliance (3) better drawn than Majestic Man (6) and Oscar Bonavena (7), with all three certain to be happy Muscle Mountain and Sundees Son are bypassing the race to prepare for the Dominion on Friday week.
Cup Day will be run with only a crowd of around 1200 instead of its usual 20,000 because of Covid.
NZ TROTTING CUP
Addington, 5.50pm NZ time, Tuesday
1 Steel The Show
2 Vintage Cheddar
3 Taipo
4 Pembrook Playboy
5 Matt Damon
6 Classie Brigade
7 Robyns Playboy
8 Cranbourne
9 Kango
10 Copy That
11 Henry Hubert
12 Bad To The Bone
13 Terry
14 That Alexander Guy
15 Self Assured
16 South Coast Arden (ur)
17 Laver (ur)
18 Dance Time (ur)
Emergencies: Matt Damon, Taipo, That Alexander Guy
