By Michael Guerin
The most anxious wait for many Harness Jewels punters has ended on an unexpected high — and that could see Piccadilly Princess start the hottest favourite on next week’s $1.2million day.
The defending champion has snuck into the $150,000 four-year-old Diamond for mares on the last weekend of qualifying, her luckless second in the Winter Cup at Addington last Friday seeing her qualify 12 of the 13 starters.
That will have had plenty of punters around Australasia breathing a huge sign of relieve as Piccadilly Princess had been at short at $1.35 in some markets.
But those who took the short odds had nervous times as Piccadilly Princess went into last weekend outside the 13 and with trainer Mark Purdon concerned she was racing slightly below her best.
Up against the likes of Waikiki Beach and Classic Brigade off a 20m handicap on Friday and with two Jewels rivals racing poor opposition over the weekend and therefore able to sneak past her, Piccadilly Princess’s defence was in a precarious position.
But she thrilled Purdon with a huge second, securing her way into the group one mile at Ashburton and with two weeks to get over the run.
Once it became clear at Sunday night’s cutoff that she was in the race, Piccadilly Princess shortened from a high last week of $2.20 back into $1.50 with the TAB and could even start shorter if she fares well on Friday’s Jewels barrier draws.
The tricky wait for those who took the short odds about Piccadilly Princess came about because while she has raced at the highest level and won the A$200,000 Ladyship Mile in Sydney this season, only New Zealand earnings count to Jewels qualification.
Which means to earn the right to defend her title Piccadilly Princess has had to race the likes of The Orange Agent and Heaven Rocks, while many of those trying to beat her out of the Jewels were racing in lowly rating 50-60 races.
She is one of four defending champions who will return this season but two of the others have also struggled.
Partyon’s Northern Oaks win gets her in the three-year-old Diamond, but had she missed that classic six days after winning the NSW Oaks, she too would have been in danger of missing out through a lack of NZ earnings.
Their stablemate More The Better faces a different problem, with no suitable lead-up races to Ashburton because he is rated 102, meaning he would have had to race virtual open class horses to get ready.
He has instead been restricted to trials and workouts and if he does line-up on Saturday week it will be without a race since the Northern Derby three months ago.
Definitely heading to the the Jewels as the second Australian invitee to make the trip is former Kiwi pacer Mr Mojito, who sealed his trip with a third in a feature race at Melton on Saturday night.
He will wear the Aussie green Jewels colours along with two-year-old trotter One Muscle Hill as they strive to become the first Australian-trained winners of a Jewel.
But Victorian mare Rockstar Angel has been pulled out of the four-year-old Diamond after tying up in her work on Saturday.
With most of the long-term favourites now safely qualified the TAB has six odds-on favourites pre-draw, with Heaven Rocks, Piccadilly Princess, Ultimate Machete, Spankem and Spanish Armada from the All Stars joined in the red by Greg and Nina Hope’s Enghien, who is $1.50 to win the three-year-old trot.
The most open markets are the two and four-year-old trots, with the two-year-old Diamond thrown into confusion after hot favourite Elle Mac underperformed when fourth at Addington last Friday.
The draws for the Jewels will be held Friday at noon with the traditional Jewels workouts at Ashburton on Saturday.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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