One for the ladies

BY TIM BARTON

Stephen McKee hopes to be a ladies' man at Pukekohe.

The Auckland trainer has seven runners, six of whom are mares, spread over the four black type races at the premier meeting.

The odd man out is two-year-old San Leonardo who will be joined by Culminate, Ististar, Keepa Cruisin, Striker, Boundless and Raid.

Culminate, Ististar, Keepa Cruisin and Striker give McKee four of a kind in the Group II Auckland Breeders' Stakes (1400m).

The quartet all lined up in the race last year, with Culminate, Keepa Cruisin and Striker finishing in the top five. Ististar failed last year but was the runner-up in 2007.

Culminate has an awkward draw tomorrow but is the highest rated runner and has opened as a $3.50 favourite in fixed odds betting.

"A wide draw is never a help but she drew wide last year and she's very well," McKee said.

Culminate was a Group I winner in New Zealand last term and Group I placed in Australia and her form this spring has been up to that standard.

She won fresh-up, with 58.5kg, and was only a length away from Daffodil when fifth in the Group I Windsor Park Plate (1400m) at Hastings.

At her one subsequent start, she ran second to O'Ceirins Angel on a heavy track in the Group III Postponed Classic (1400m) at Hawera.

She has not raced for six weeks but has a good record when fresh and is best suited by good ground.

In any event, it is hard to imagine Culminate racing badly. The six-year-old has won a third of her 27 starts and returned a dividend 22 times.

She has either won or finished within a length of the winner in 15 of her last 21 starts and over that period has only once been beaten by more than two lengths – in the Group I Queen of the Turf Stakes in Sydney.

Tomorrow's race will also serve as Culminate's lead-up to the Group I Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) at Trentham on December 5.

Striker, the runner-up in the Group I Thorndon Mile at Trentham last summer, has failed in her two starts this term but McKee is expecting sharp improvement this weekend.

"She has on-going problems with her front joints and has been slow to come up this prep but I think she's finally right now.

"She had no luck at her last start and has really come on well since, though she's probably better suited to a mile."

Leith Innes will ride Culminate with Sam Spratt on Striker while Troy Harris will ride Ististar and Danielle Johnson will partner Keepa Cruisin.

Cuddle Stakes winner Ististar would prefer a wet track while McKee thinks Keepa Cruisin is still a run away from peak fitness.

"She [Keepa Cruisin] has come up really well but is fairly podgy and might need one more run."

Keepa Cruisin, who has been served by Sakhee's Secret, was a Group I winner at three but returned a dividend only twice in 13 starts last term and has not won a race since January 2008.

However, McKee said her form last term was better than it looked on paper. "She didn't go that bad. She had a lot of bad draws and was posted three wide in a few of her races."

McKee rates Matamata mare Tootsie, who has done her previous racing this term in Melbourne, as the hardest to beat in the Breeders' Stakes. "Those horses who have been racing in that tough Melbourne company usually race well when they come home, as Sir Slick and Sand Hawk have already shown."

McKee has the favourites for both group races tomorrow, with Boundless opening as a $4 favourite for the Counties Cup (2100m).

Boundless, the 2008 New Zealand Oaks winner, showed improvement to win at weight-for-age at Ellerslie at her last start and will be fitter for the run. "She's come on really well and is probably still improving," McKee said.

Four-year-old Raid is a form runner for the $60,000 Counties Bowl (1100m) but has the outside barrier in the 13 horse field and McKee has yet to make a decision on a start.

"It's a shocking draw. There's plenty of pace in the race and they won't come back to you much over 1100m.

"I'll discuss it with the owner but there is the option of the Levin Stakes [at Otaki][ next week."

If Raid goes to Otaki, she will be accompanied by stablemate Kaaptan who will tackle the Group I Levin Classic. Kaaptan finished sixth, from a wide draw, in the Two Thousand Guineas and will be a big improver next week.

Stable star Mufhasa will defend his Telegraph Handicap title at Trentham in January but no decisions have been made about his lead-up programme.

Mufhasa was beaten in his two starts at the Melbourne carnival but had difficult runs each time and rider Damien Oliver admitted he made an error in settling the horse off the pace in the Emirates Stakes.

- © Fairfax NZ News