One-time Melbourne Cup fancy Mark Twain will make his first public appearance for more than 12 months when the Roger James and Robert Wellwood-trained gelding has an exhibition gallop at Te Rapa on Saturday.
The lightly-raced son of Shocking won last year’s Listed Roy Higgins (2600m) at Flemington to secure a place in the 2024 Melbourne Cup only for a tendon injury last spring to quash the Cup dream.
A year on and the rising six-year-old has pleased in his recovery with the OTI-raced gelding on the Cup comeback trail.
“He’s in great order. He didn’t have a lot of idle time,” James said. “The OTI team have used the services of Matthew Williams in Warrnambool who has had a lot of success with those similar injuries.
“He was not idle from the time it happened until four or five months afterwards and then they gave him a month off, two months before he came back over to us.
“We are mixing it up with a combination of swimming, treadmill and some trackwork, so he’s on a varied program.
“We were very grateful to Terry Henderson and the OTI team to get the horse back. I actually sowed the seed as to whether Terry wanted to leave the horse there given he had rehabilitated in Australia, but it was never in question.”
The winner of four of his 12 starts with a further three placings including a luckless third in last year’s Gr.2 Auckland Cup (3200m), Mark Twain will likely have just one start in New Zealand this spring before an Australian campaign.
“He will have an exhibition gallop after race two at Te Rapa on Saturday,” James said.
“All going well he will have a trial on August 12 and then head to the races at Te Aroha over a mile on August 31 before heading to Australia.”
OTI’s Terry Henderson described Mark Twain as the most talented horse in their southern hemisphere arsenal.
“He is a very special horse. We got a glimpse of that in last year’s Roy Higgins, where he came from last and won,” Henderson said.
“He needs to qualify for the Melbourne Cup again so he will be aimed towards a race like the Bart Cummings (Gr.3, 2500m) in October.”
Looking ahead to spring, Henderson is also bullish about the prospects of New Zealand Derby placegetter Golden Century, who has transferred to Chris Waller from Tony Pike.
“He trialled really well on Tuesday,” Henderson said. “He will have another trial in two weeks, and there is a race for him on August 15.
“He could be a Caulfield Cup (Gr.1, 2400m) horse or he could even be a Metropolitan (Gr.1, 2400m) horse.”
An avid fan of sourcing horses from New Zealand, Henderson credited bloodstock agent Phill Cataldo as a key component to the syndicator’s success.
“We are blessed with having Phill Cataldo over there. Phill is a highly respected bloodstock agent who is at the track every morning,” Henderson said.
“Many of the horses that we buy, we know about before they have actually gone to the trials, so we are able to act quickly, which has been a huge advantage to us.
“Phill has been able to produce seven or eight Group One winners, including I’m Thunderstruck. The value is there. The New Zealand dollar is ten percent lower than the Australian dollar, and the logistics of getting them over to Australia are easy.
“We find the New Zealand market to be very attractive, not only in the trial sector but also in the Ready to Run sale. We have had a fair bit of luck with the Ready to Run horses that go under the hammer in November.” – NZ Racing Desk
