By Michael Guerin
Just 17 days ago the market for tonight’s main sprint at Alexandra Park would have seemed unlikely bordering on impossible.
Then Sky Major was the morning favourite for the New Zealand Trotting Cup and set to take the pacing world by storm.
Since then little has gone right for the king in waiting.
And 17 days ago The Orange Agent hadn’t been seen in her four-year-old term, so she was just another champion filly waiting to return for a season which can so often trip even the great mares up.
Now, just two and a half weeks later, the pair meet for the first time tonight and there will be plenty of people willing to bet The Orange Agent can beat Sky Major, who has drawn right alongside her.
So what has changed in such a short time?
Sky Major’s New Zealand Cup was made up of a punctured tyre and a listless performance, with how much the first contributed to the second impossible to tell.
He then lost the start and crucial tactical advantage in the New Zealand Free-For-All so has returned home still winless this campaign.
Sky Major is too good a horse not to bounce back and still has a plethora of group one options ahead but the fact trainer Barry Purdon takes the reins tonight suggests the training great wants to feel first hand how the stallion is going.
Over his decades at the top of the training tree Purdon has been a master at picking horses up, getting their confidence back and then re-setting them for the richest races.
What exactly that means for tonight’s 1700m mobile, worth just $14,999, is anybody’s guess but it would surprise to see Purdon launching the five-year-old early and if he is going to win he is probably going to have to come from near last to do so.
Take his own stablemate Lancewood Lizzie and more importantly The Orange Agent out of tonight’s race and Sky Major could do virtually whatever Purdon wanted and still win.
But the flying mares could well settle a fair way in front of him tonight. And while Sky Major has started to hit a few judder bars in the last fortnight, The Orange Agent has returned to remind us how freakishly talented she is.
She broke the unofficial Pukekohe track record in a 2050m workout last Saturday and has conservative driver Maurice McKendry in raptures.
And her stablemate Hughie Green returning with a sensational win at Alexandra Park last Friday only adds to the hype surrounding the mare.
She appeals as the natural successor to the retired Adore Me as the best mare in Australasia and was good enough to beat talented intermediate grade pacers last winter as a three-year-old filly.
The question is whether that counts when racing a genuine open class star like Sky Major or whether the step is too steep, too soon?
Tactics and race tempo might decide that tonight but the unexpected clash of the pair plus the return of horses like Hughie Green, Locharburn and the potential greatness of Have Faith In Me means the open class talent pool suddenly feels a lot deeper than it did on New Zealand Cup day.
A lot can change in 17 days.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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