Trainer Andrew Forsman has no doubts Hinekaha is the best mare in today’s $200,000 Rydges Wellington Cuddle Stakes at Trentham.
But he does have a small doubt over whether she is spot-on to show it.
The Group 2 winner should be favourite for the 1600m mares race, in which she meets an even bunch, because she was clearly better than favourite She’s A Dealer when they clashed in the $1 million Aotearoa Classic at Ellerslie two starts ago.
On that occasion Hinekaha ducked through and looked likely to win the race at the 100m, only to be run down by Tuxedo, with She’s A Dealer fourth.
While She’s A Dealer still has plenty of upside, Hinekaha is more proven, so the fact She’s A Dealer is $4 and Hinekaha $6 is hard to explain.
But Forsman says he has one concern.
“I am sure on her top form she [Hinekaha] is the best mare in the race,” he says.
“She won a good Group 2 three starts ago and we all saw how close she went in the Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic on Karaka Millions night.
“She was then beaten fair and square in the Herbie Dyke last start, albeit we have our doubts she handled the 2000m.
“But she might just be coming to the end of her campaign.
“She has had some hard racing in very good fields and while she looks really well and deserves her shot at this, I have that nagging doubt.
“I absolutely wouldn’t be surprised if she won but I also wouldn’t be stunned if she peaked at the 200m and was run down.
“So this could be her last race of the campaign but we will obviously know a lot more after the race.”
Hinekaha is beautifully suited to the conditions of the Cuddle but it is a big, even field with plenty capable of beating her.
She’s A Dealer is clearly a mare on the rise and does get a 2k advantage over Hinekaha, while almost every horse in the race could win without surprising in what is a real Sunday afternoon treat for punters.
The open 2100m handicap later in the programme is a total puzzle, but one of the highlights of the meeting is the Rating 75 over 1600m, which is incredibly deep for a Central Districts race of that grade.
Forsman suggests his other runner today, Mad Max, could be a sneaky each-way chance in Race 2.
“He is in an 1100m race down the straight with the blinkers on where he should be able to get back and run on and I wouldn’t be surprised if he went a good race.”
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.