Collett talks tempo ahead of Auckland Cup ride

[Chief Stipe]

Tempo will be the word on Sam Collett’s mind as she takes Glory Days around to the 3200-metre Ellerslie start point tomorrow afternoon.

Glory Days is the $5 equal second favourite for the Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Cup after adding last month’s Avondale Cup to her impressive lower North Island record. In that 2400-metre race – the Waverley mare’s first start at Ellerslie – she came from last at the 800-metre mark for a narrow win over longshot Blue Breeze.

The challenge for Collett now is to decide whether she can get away with similar tactics in the Auckland Cup in the hope of a solid pace up front. The important point about the Avondale Cup is that Nymph Monte broke the field up when he pulled his way to a clear lead through the middle stages, and after being some 20 lengths behind at one point, Glory Days was able to mount a sustained run over the final 600 metres.

“Tempo is the key,” Collett said as she discussed her assignment. “I doubt very much whether they’ll run this race at the same clip, so that means I’ll first have to decide how far back I should settle and just when to make my run.

“That’s one of those decisions you have to make as things unfold and there isn’t a lot of room for error.”

Collett has been recognised in recent years as one the most improved in domestic jockey ranks. For much longer the 29-year-old has been one of the busiest and she underlined her new-found confidence by winning the 2017-18 premiership with 132 wins.

Confidence was evident in her first ride on Gory Days three weeks ago and was also the key factor in almost pulling off a boilover result in the Karaka Million 3Y0 Classic at Ellerslie in late January.

In that $1 million race, Collett circled the field on $160 longshot The Real Beel when the pace buttoned off through the middle stages and it was only a desperate James McDonald ride on Victorian raider Long Leaf that denied the Tauranga filly of victory.

Collett was still in nappies when her parents Jim Collett and Trudy Thornton fought out the finish of the 1991 Auckland on Star Harvest and Shugar. Her recall of that historic quinella has been via video replay, but it’s an incentive for her to emulate her father’s victory and go one up on her mother, who at 55 is still a racetrack rival and tomorrow has the Cup mount on $200 longshot The Rebel Knight.

“Mum and I enjoy riding against each other – we’re just as competitive as we would be with any other jockey – and I still talk things through with Dad on a regular basis.

“He and I are pretty much on the same page as far as how I should be riding, but it’s always good to get his view on things.”

Collett’s other incentive on the eve of Auckland Cup day is addressing the missing statistic on her record. A career tally of 692 wins and 29 black-type races doesn’t include a Group One success.

“That’s become my big goal, to win a Group One,” she says, “and I’d like to think Glory Days might get me there.

“I’m also on Qiji Swordsman in the (Gr. 1) Sistema Stakes and while he’s not one of the favourites he has finished first and second in his only two starts, so he must be some chance.”

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