Merlin and co back at Alexandra Park this Friday

By Michael Guerin

The Kings of Spring look set to do it again when the northern open class pacing season resumes at Alexandra Park on Friday night.

The $25,000 IRT Spring Cup is the first real clash of the north’s New Zealand Cup contenders even though the likes of Jeremiah and Rubira have already met once this campaign.

On Friday though they are joined by Merlin (20m) and Better Knuckle Up (10m) in the 2200m standing start giving Barry Purdon and Scott Phelan half of the six horse field.  That three from 6 number also mirrors their record in recent Spring Cups as they have won it that many times in the last six years.

The last two seasons Sooner The Bettor has taken the traditional spring starting point for the open class pacers at The Park while Mach Shard won it back in 2020.

While 2200m standing start races are often graveyards for punters who want to back the best horse in the race, in this case Merlin ($1.80), with only five rivals in front of him and some of them having standing start concerns the millionaire pacer will still be well in the market.

Purdon and Phelan also bring their two biggest trotting guns back to The Park on Friday with Meant To Be (20m) and Higher Power (10m) in a very strong John Boyle Commercial Realty Cup, also over 2200m.

Meant To Be and Higher Power are joined by Hillbilly Blues (20m), Belle Niege (20m) and the emerging Youneverknow (10m) in a far deeper trot than we are used to seeing at Alexandra Park at this stage of the season in recent years.

The night’s biggest dollars though are up for grabs in the $100,000 Caduceus Club Fillies Final for the two-year-olds in which Daisy Bay (barrier 3) just has the better of the draws over Belle Biddy (barrier 6).

The night only has seven races with the very early finishing time of 8pm for the last race but for a small card it packs some real punch.

To see the Auckland fields click here