Kiwis Out to Continue Classic Dominance

The Informant reports:

The Queensland Derby is one of the few Australian classics to elude Kiwi three-year-olds in recent years, and on Saturday two New Zealand-trained runners will try to break that drought and end another bumper season on a high.

New Zealanders have been running rampant in three-year-old staying features in Sydney and Melbourne, with the last 10 years yielding five Australian Derbys, four Australian Oaks and three Victoria Derbys.

The Queensland Oaks has also been a Kiwi favourite, with victories for Eskimo Queen, My Keepsake, Scarlett Lady, Quintessential and Provocative 12 months ago.

But the Queensland Derby has been a different story, with no wins since the John Wheeler-trained Court Ruler in 2009. My Keepsake, Shez Sinsational, Quintessential and Werther have all placed, but none have brought home the winner's share of the A$600,000 prize.

In a season that has already featured Derby and Oaks placings in Melbourne for Sacred Elixir and Eleonora, Rosehill Guineas glory for the New Zealand Derby hero Gingernuts and Jon Snow and Bonneval in the Australian Derby and Oaks at Randwick, Shocking Luck and Here He Comes (formerly Comin'through) will attempt to fly the New Zealand flag one more time in the final classic of the Australian season.

Due to the disastrous track issues at the recently redeveloped Eagle Farm, where the recent Kingsford-Smith Cup meeting was run on a heavy surface after a rainless week, Saturday's meeting has been moved to Doomben and the Derby distance reduced to 2200 metres.

This is a delayed shot at Derby glory for Shocking Luck, who had been in line for the New Zealand Derby in March after placing in the Gr. 2 Waikato Guineas. In the end he bypassed the Ellerslie classic, leaving Te Akau's other runner Gingernuts to charge to victory.

Now owned in Hong Kong by Dr Philip Mak, Shocking Luck was sent to Queensland for his final three starts from the stable of Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards - the Rough Habit Plate, the Grand Prix Stakes and the Queensland Derby.

The son of Shocking was an outstanding winner of the Rough Habit Plate at Doomben on May 13 before the wet Eagle Farm track and his own keen racing manners brought him unstuck when he finished sixth in the Grand Prix two weeks later.

But Richards, who confirmed that the Te Akau contingent is all safely entered for Saturday's races after a brief scare last week saw them left out of the nominations, believes Shocking Luck can bounce back tomorrow.

“The situation with the nominations has been all cleared up,” Richards said earlier in the week. “Obviously it was very frustrating for the stable, but we took full responsibility and the horses have now been entered for their races.

“Shocking Luck just did a few things wrong in the Grand Prix at Eagle Farm, over-racing and not helping his chances. He also didn't really handle the heavy ground there that day.

“He's shown that he likes Doomben, where he won the Rough Habit, and we're hoping that he can get some cover this weekend and settle a little bit better in the running. The firmer ground will certainly suit him.

“Opie Bosson came over this (Tuesday) morning to gallop his mounts for Saturday, and he thought Shocking Luck worked really well in partnership with Zambezi Warrior.”