Mo’unga’s connections ponder start in IRT New Zealand Cup

[Wandering Eyes]

By Michael Guerin

Now that the main job is done Regan Todd will have a think about the far bigger job.

But don’t be surprised to see Alabar Kaikoura Cup winner Mo’unga in next Tuesday’s $1m IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup after a drama-filled day in the lead-up to the iconic race.

The Cup market was already in the shadow of the will-he, won’t-he come story of Leap To Fame, something that will be finalized after blood test results on Tuesday afternoon.

Then came the left-field stunner that defending champion Swayzee is now likely to come, his connections having to pay a late entry fee.

Remarkably he looks likely to race in the Country Cup at Young on Friday night in the second leg of a five-Cup attempt at a A$1m bonus.

So Jason Grimson will race him there and fly him to Christchurch via Auckland two days later and then race in the Cup. Admittedly the Young race should be little more than trackwork for him but is still a radical way to defend your title.

Not needing to do anything so dramatic are the team behind Mo’unga if, as looks likely, their win and some possible drop outs put him into the NZ Cup field.

He used standing start manners and stamina to shoot through on the passing lane with Mossdale Ben booming into second and Better Eclipse the run of the race in third after settling near last after an early gallop then coming wide.

The winner may have rated 1:58.1 for the 2400m standing start but it was easy to make the assumption the Cup winner wasn’t in the field.

But while that may come from Leap To Fame, Swayzee, Merlin or Don’t Stop Dreaming, half of them aren’t even here yet and have a few hurdles and one Tasman Sea to get over before they deter Mo’unga. 

“We know how big an ask the NZ Cup is so we will sleep on it and maybe see how a few things pan out in the next day,” says Todd.

“This (the Kaikoura Cup) was his main target but if he gets into the Cup field I’d say he is 60-40 to start but we won’t make a definite decision one way or the other until tomorrow.”

On a day when the marker pegs were the place to be they also provided the winners of the other two features with Mystic Max defending his title in the $56,000 White Morph South Bay Trotters Cup for trainer Michael Purdon.

Like Mo’unga he began well from wide out and driver Blair Orange was in a no-nonsense mood, looking for the lead and once he got there he never looked like getting beaten in a race where plenty of his key rivals did themselves no favours by galloping. 

Mystic Max now finds himself the $21 equal fourth favourite for the $400,000 Renwick Farms Dominion next Tuesday which lost both Callmethebreeze and Muscle  Mountain over the weekend.

Orange was to the fore again when aggressive with Wish Me Luck in the $50,000 NZBS Sales Series Pace for the older horses, continuing the great run for trainer Hayden Cullen.

He wasn’t the smoothest away but Orange sent him forward to lead and even though he looked to be headed by Lester at the 100m mark he fought back to relegate  Lester to the runner-up role in this race for the second year running.

“This is the race we set him for so to get the result is really satisfying,” said Cullen of Wish Me Luck.

Hot favourite Sooner The Better was checked early but only battled late, as many coming wide on the day did, but he must now be in some doubt to start in the Cup next Tuesday.

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