IF you believe the hype, Xtravagant is Pegasus and could have flown himself across the “ditch'' rather than being plonked in an aeroplane crate.
After a few transport hiccups, New Zealand's next big thing eventually landed yesterday as both favourite and mystery horse of Saturday's intriguing Australian Guineas at Flemington.
There are no guarantees when New Zealand horses fly to the big smoke.
Mike Moroney, who trained New Zealand's previous great “X†horse, Xcellent, said even the best could unravel en route and on arrival.
Hasselhoof was New Zealand's other star this summer, so much so race clubs began making “Hoof'' merchandise.
He has run twice in Sydney since, with actor David Hasselhoff as the gimmick attraction, and been beaten both times.
Moroney worked as foreman for Dave O'Sullivan when champion Mr Tiz came over in the early 1990s and later trained another great New Zealand sprinter, Lord Tridan.
“It's not so much that the races are necessary harder here, they sometimes just don't fire,'' Moroney said. “Good horses can outperform themselves when they travel here; really good ones can for some reason not run to form.
“But more fire than don't.''
Moroney, who takes on Xtravagant on Saturday with Tivaci (stablemate Tulsa is running in the Randwick Guineas), said a busy summer of travel within New Zealand would also test the colt's reserves and maturity for what shapes as the big test of his eight-start career.
But Moroney also deferred to the local knowledge of his New Zealand-based brother, Paul.
“Paul says if the horse travels OK, settles in OK, it's all over, simple as that,'' Moroney said. “He's very good. He's running the times, winning by the big margins. He's the real deal, you'd think.''
Steve McKee, who cop-trained the immortal Sunline with his father Trevor, and Murray Baker, trainer of New It's A Dundeel and current stars Turn Me Loose and Mongolian Khan, reckon Xtravagant is as good as the hype.
“They are massive, massive margins,'' McKee said of Xtravagant's 8½-length 2000 Guineas win and eight-length last-start weight-for-age victory at Te Rapa.
“And his form says he's better left-handed, which makes it look good for Flemington,'' McKee said.
“Three-year-olds over here have a bit of a weight advantage over summer, but his last win was far more impressive than Darci Brahma some years back and he ran second to Apache Cat in the (Australian) Guineas. He's definitely going to be hard to beat. He really might be the real deal.''
Baker does not overpraise horses. It took him a long time to decide It's A Dundeel was a champion, preferring mostly to call the colt a “nice horse''.
Xtravagant, Baker said, was “pretty good — no, make that very good''.
“He's fast, he's powerful, by gee he's a good horse, an exciting horse, and a great horse for New Zealand,'' he said.
Baker said Xtravagant would “probably be too good for them'' on Saturday.
“Yeah, you'd think so. They are a pretty nice bunch, but he's maybe a bit better than that,'' he said. “But he's not a great, not yet. He's got to do it. Put it this way, if he wins the Guineas with a bit in hand, he's well on his way.''
