First Self Assured needs to step, then he needs to step up. That is the equation for potentially New Zealand’s best pacer in tonight’s $100,000 Breckon Farms Easter Cup at Addington tonight.
Self Assured will start favourite for the 3200m stand, a race which has propelled some outstanding horses on to New Zealand Cup victories in the last two decades.
But Self Assured has already been there, done that as a winner of last November’s New Zealand Cup and the Auckland Cup the season before, wins that would usually make him a pacing superstar.
Picture: Peter Rubery.
Few doubt that at his absolute best he is the most talented pacer in New Zealand but great horses don’t win eight of their last 19 starts, they find a way to win more often than that.
It has not always been Self Assured’s fault he has been beaten, not that punters care about blame. They care about dividends.
He has suffered setbacks, come up against some stars like Lochinvar Art and a rampant Copy That and his standing start manners have been a rollercoaster.
Those manners could be the key tonight as he has drawn the inside of the 20m which can be an annoying and/or confusing place for hit-or-miss beginners.
If Self Assured handles the standing start and settles in the field he should have too much speed, even for Amazing Dream and Spankem.
He could easily waltz around to the front and stroll clear to win by three lengths and punters will think his $2.50 fixed quote was theft. Or, as has been the case too many times this season, he could find a way to get beaten.
Amazing Dream may not have the wow factor of Self Assured but she showed beating most of these last week she loves a fight and her Auckland Cup defeat of Spankem confirms she relishes distance racing.
If she can beat the boys again tonight she becomes the new favourite for harness racing’s Horse of the Year.
While all the money will be for the Hayden Cullen-trained backmarkers the front line of Pembrook Playboy, Henry Hubert and Vintage Cheddar all have enough class to punish the big names if they get things wrong or play the waiting game.
But as good as they are the 3200m distance and small field suggest the winner will come from that 20m trio.
