By Michael Guerin
You may not be able to be in two places at once but Cran Dalgety has two very good reasons to try tonight.
Because the Canterbury trainer has winning chances in $290,000 worth of fillies races and he would love to see them both — the only problem is one is at Addington and the other at Alexandra Park.
Dalgety has Sezana in the $150,000 Sales Series Pace for juvenile fillies at Alexandra Park at 5.39pm, where after a brave second against older horses last Friday she looms as a huge chance.
But just two and a half hours later Dalgety has one of his stable stars Bettor Joy taking on Elle Mac in the $140,000 Nevele R Fillies Final, where she has the ace draw to test arch rival Elle Mac.
This presents Dalgety with a relatively pleasant problem, one many rival trainers would be happy to face.
“I’d love to see both races because they are the two biggest races of the weekend,” said Dalgety. “Sezana is a special horse to us because our son Carter did all the research and chose her from the sales and basically bought him, although he is only 14 so he is not allowed to own a horse so Chrissy (wife) owns him.
“She has kept improving with every start and she finds herself in with a real chance tonight so I will definitely fly to Auckland to oversee her earlier in the day and would ideally like to stay for the race.
“But that would be pushing it pretty fine to get back to Addington for Bettor Joy, where I think the draw really brings her into play.
“So it might even work out I go to Auckland, get Sezana all set up and the leave to get to Addington in time to do the same for Bettor Joy.”
While Sezana’s race lacks the best juvenile fillies it actually adds to the contest, with the four fillies with inside draws all capable of winning.
But the Nevele R Final at Addington could be a two-horse race between Bettor Joy and Elle Mac, with Dalgety aware his filly may only have one shot at winning.
“I think we have to use the draw and stay in front,” he says.
“If we let Elle Mac go she could dawdle around and sprint home (last 400m) in 26 seconds and we would have no chance.
“So while I haven’t spoken to Dexter (Dunn) about it yet I’d say they will be the tactics.
“And if we do that and Elle Mac beats us then so be it.”
Elle Mac might simply be the better filly and looked very sharp beating the likes of Sicario at the trials last week but could well have to sit parked to win. If the pair do go to war then Dizzy Miss Lizzy could be sitting just in behind them as a perfect place chance and maybe even a blowout hope.
On a night where the big money at Addington takes centre stage, the $70,000 Sales Series Trot looks some juicy long-hanging fruit as the three best-performed trotters in the country are missing while NZ Derby winner Sheriff returns against a race-hardened Alta Orlando in the main free-for-all.
And at Alexandra Park anything like the best version of Girls On Film should win the Northern Trotting Oaks while the Breeders Stakes could come down to standing start manners.
Best bet: Girls On Film (Alex Park, R8): Second to Luby Lou in NZ Trot Oaks and has genuine class.
Manners crucial: Utmost Delight (Alex Park, R9): Group one winning mare and biggest concern is first standing start.
Southland raider: Get Lucky (Addington, R3): Very good in only race start here and trialled superbly against older horses last week.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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