My next few days need to be shared with The Forum’s readers - I'm on my way to Addington, Christchurch, New Zealand for the 2022 NZ Cup. And I am as pumped as pumped can be.

It’s been a while since I’ve contributed to The Forum. Perhaps too long but the gang (Jason Bonnington, Michael Guerin, Brittany Graham, Tim O’Connor and Adam Hamilton) have been covering all bases.

Time to change that, because my good mate Mick Stanley has his stable star Rock N Roll Doo in the big one, but the Cup as a whole is worth crossing the Tasman for!

Some 20,000 or so in the house, dressed in their finest, celebrating a public holiday in the city of Christchurch with 13 - yes, thirteen - races on offer at Addington Raceway.

I’m on the plane today, arriving into Christchurch around midnight.

However, there's no time for a spell because I am up and at them and checking in on ‘Hendo’ in the morning.

I’ll spend the morning with the Pryde's EasiFeed Victoria Cup winner before checking back in with The Forum on Monday afternoon.

This Cup is deep. Real deep.

We have the past two winners of the race, Copy That and Self Assured, as well a former juvenile champ in Krug.

Add in some progressive, yet little known, pacers like Old Town Road, B D Joe and Kango plus veteran performers like Spankem and Aussie hope Majestic Cruiser.

The late addition to the race is three-year-old boom pacer Akuta. And with Mark Purdon being a part-owner he will be taking the reins, meaning record-breaking pilot Tony Herlihy will partner with Self Assured - who has drawn one.

I spoke to Mick before departing Melbourne and he said everything had been centimetre perfect (sorry, Dennis) since the Ashburton run.

The horse has eaten up, worked the house down and thrived on the added workload and was brilliant in the official Cup trial last Wednesday.

The colossal four-year-old thundered home in 54 seconds for the last 800m, with Stanley saying "it was the perfect work for a horse who loves work".

Owner Brendan James has been in New Zealand for a week or so but he has been resigned to wingman as Stanley prepares the son of Rock N Roll Heaven for this huge task.

He's drawn 13 and a slow getaway like we saw at Ashburton will be problematic.

But as we Victorians have witnessed, Rock N Roll Doo is a monster when in the zone and Mick is not afraid to light him up and make it a battle of the strongest!

I can't wait to watch it all play out. Before then I’ll check in tomorrow with an update from ‘Hendo’s’ stables.