Vance rain dance

Rain can sometimes spoil a spring day but Auckland trainer Bob Vance says it will only make tomorrow ''perfect''.

Vance and his wife Jenny prepare proficient six-year-old stayer Sand Hawk, a leading chance in tomorrow's Gr II $125,000 Counties Cup (2100m) at Pukekohe.

The Vances had targeted Sand Hawk at this month's $7.2 million Melbourne Cup (3200m) but hard tracks foiled his chances in two of his three leadup races and the Sandtrap gelding returned home specifically with the Counties Cup in mind.

''He's good. We couldn't be happier,'' Bob Vance said yesterday.

"My only concern is the track. He's really got to have some give in the track to help him and I don't know how much there will be.

''His preparation has been absolutely perfect - no problems whatsoever. And if it rains on Saturday, then everything will be perfect.''

Sand Hawk will tomorrow line up for the 11th time this preparation, having taken a long time to reach full fitness in the early stages of his campaign.

At his sixth run back, he won an open handicap at Ellerslie for rider Kate Hercock, beating the ill-fated Mountain Road and multiple stakes winner Strapped For Cash to confirm the trip to Melbourne.

First-up there, he produced a dour staying performance to win a 2500m A$100,000 open handicap on a dead track at Moonee Valley in the hands of Damien Oliver.

However, he was unable to reproduce that run when finishing 12th in the Herbert Power then 11th in the Moonee Valley Cup, both on good tracks.

''He went to Melbourne to go for the Melbourne Cup but it turned out that the tracks got too good,'' Vance said.
''If the tracks had been a bit softer he might have been a contender. But in both his last two races, they ran track records and he's not up to running that sort of time, though he was still only five lengths from the winner in the Moonee Valley Cup.''

After the Moonee Valley Cup, the Vances pulled up stumps and decided to head home, with Sand Hawk flying back into Auckland on November 2 and then running a gallant second to Boundless in the Gr III Nicolas Feuillatte Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie the following day for rider Opie Bosson.

Sand Hawk drops 3kg from that race to meet Boundless 2kg better at the weights for the Counties Cup and third-placed Ginga Dude 3kg better.

With Bosson suspended, Hercock has again secured the ride.

''I always had this race in mind for him when we brought him back home and he had to have one run back so that's why he raced the next day at Ellerslie,'' Vance said.

''It was a very good run and he's come through it well. He's not a weight-for-age horse but he did well to finish within a length of Boundless.

''I know he's dropping 3kg for this but I'd rather he carried 3kg extra and have a really dead track than drop in weight and race on a firm one.

''The top three in the weights should be the ones - us, Boundless and Ginga Dude. Boundless is the horse to beat for sure.

''If there's give in the track, I gave our bloke a fair chance. He'll lead early and if something wants to take us on, they are more than welcome. He'll just bowl along - he's just a one-paced horse.''

Sand Hawk will contest his second Counties Cup tomorrow, having run a luckless ninth in last year's race, still only 1 3/4 lengths from winner Gallions Reach.

He has still yet to win outside the months of May to September but Vance didn't see any reason why he couldn't break new ground tomorrow.

''He ran third in the Avondale Cup last year so even though he hasn't won, he has gone well. The whole key is he just needs the jar out of the track,'' said Vance, a former top jockey who has never won the Counties Cup as a rider or trainer before.

''He was a bit unlucky last year - he got a bit boxed up - and he's twice the horse now to what he was then.
''This will probably be his last run this preparation. We'll turn him out and get him ready for Brisbane next winter.''

Market: $4 Boundless; $5.50 Ginga Dude; $6.50 Shi Kin Fly; $11 Casa de Campo, Sand Hawk; $12 Jungle Rocket, Fiorano; $15 Solid Billing; $18 Shining Light; $21 Occidentalis, Ima Lady; $26 Il Bacaro; $31 Agamemnon, Lady Lucille, High Octane; $41 The Missing Link; $51 Go Danny; $61 Gasnier.

- © Fairfax NZ News