Chittick just can't wait

Mark Chittick says he feels like a kid on Christmas eve.

The Matamata horseman owns and runs Waikato Stud with his father Garry. But for the next couple of days, the studfarm is the responsibility of the staff as the Chittick family chase glory in tomorrow's A$5.65 million Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington.

Garry and Mark bred and race Daffodil, New Zealand's best chance of success in the race which stops two nations.

In an email to stable clients last Thursday, Mark Chittick wrote: ''Only five sleeps to go - it's like being a kid leading up to Christmas. Bring on the Cup!''

Yesterday, he told the Waikato Times that his excitement was building, though he had managed to keep it under wraps by burying himself in stud work.

''I never even been to the Cup before,'' he revealed.

''It's always at a bad time of the year for me with the farm, so I thought I'd wait till the year we were going to win it before I go.

''We've had a lot of people say good luck for the Cup and tell us we're a great chance of winning it, but to be honest I've been that flat out that I haven't really had time to give it much thought.

''That's been a good thing because it's been somewhat out of mind but once we get on that plane, I think it's will sink in that it's going to be incredibly exciting to have a Melbourne Cup runner.''

Trained by Kevin Gray at Palmerston North, Daffodil has already won three times at racing's elite Gr I level.
She won the 1000 Guineas at Riccarton this time last year, added the AJC Oaks in Sydney in April and was victorious in the Windsor Park Plate at Hastings in September.

She cemented her Melbourne Cup credentials with a gritty staying performance for fourth in the A$2.5 million Caulfield Cup (2400m) last month and Chittick said she had trained on well since.
''Daffodil is thriving in Melbourne,'' he said.

''She galloped very well with Vigor [last] Tuesday morning. Kevin couldn't be happier with her. Let's hope she has a trouble free run and gets every opportunity on Tuesday.

''She's a fair chance. These sort of races are very hard to win but she's very well and we know she'll give a good, honest effort. I don't think we're wasting out time being there.''

Mark and his wife Lisa fly out to Melbourne tomorrow morning and will join Garry and wife Mary for tomorrow's Melbourne Cup parade down the streets of the CBD.

Mark's older sisters Celia, from Tauranga, and Tania, who lives in Sydney, will also converge on Melbourne to be part of the family cheering squad.

Mark and Lisa's children Charlotte, eight, Georgia, six, and Harry, three, will stay with their maternal grandparents - Dave and Marie O'Sullivan.

Legendary former Matamata trainer Dave O'Sullivan has been a key sounding block for the Daffodil team as they have prepared for the Melbourne Cup, though they are hoping to go one place better than his second placings with Blue Denim in 1980 and Koira Corrie May in 1985.

''DJ is bloody excited as well and Kevin has used him for advice right the way through,'' Mark said.
''He trained Spring for us too.''

Spring is Daffodil's dam, a promising gallop in her own right before she broke down badly in the 2001 Bayer Classic at Otaki.

Mark Chittick was watching from the grandstand and rushed down to the filly's side in time to hear the two track attendants agreeing that she should be put down out of sight from the public, behind the grandstand.
Mark was having none of that and incredibly she was saved and went on to breed, with Daffodil being her third and easily most successful foal.

''It really is an unbelievable story and we've got the prospect of a fairy tale end, if we haven't had that already,'' he said.

''A win in the Melbourne Cup really would be a dream come true. For Garry, having a Melbourne Cup runner has been his lifetime ambition. He's fulfilled a lot of his ambitions but he's always wanted to have a runner in the Cup, and it goes without saying that he would love to win it.''

Daffodil is a $15 chance with the New Zealand TAB, while the Chitticks were robbed of having a second runner in the Cup when the Waikato Stud-bred Vigor was controversially stranded at 25 on the order of entry for the 24 horse field, when many racing experts had suggested the Victoria Racing Club should have used its discretion to promote her into the field.

Melbourne Cup betting (NZ TAB): $4.50 Viewed; $5.50 Alcopop; $8.50 Roman Emperor; $11 Shocking; $15 Master O'Reilly, Daffodil; $18 Changingoftheguard; $21 C'est La Guerre, Mourilyan, Leica Ding; $31 Allez Wonder, Warringah; $41 Capecover, Newport, Basaltico, Munsef; $51 Crime Scene, Kibbutz; $61 Fiumicino, Harris Tweed; $81 Ista Kareem, Zavite; $101 Spin Around, Gallions Reach.

Aidan Rodley tips:

1 Viewed
2 Alcopop
3 Roman Emperor
4 Daffodil
Best roughie: Newport

- © Fairfax NZ News