Wide draw but Captains Mistress still very much odds on in Kaikoura Cup

By Michael Guerin

The return home of Captains Mistress could hardly be more different than the last time we saw her.

The now glamour mare has opened a $1.28 to win the $60,000 Bulldog Hanover Kaikoura Cup on Monday even starting from the outside of the front line in the eight-horse field.

It will be her first ever standing start so itself a new challenge, one made even more daunting by her being hard up against the outside fence at a packed Kaikoura.

All of which will be a far cry from the last time we saw her here.

That was in the Queen Of Hearts at Alexandra Park on December 12 last season, which she was going to win until a sulky malfunction saw then trainer-driver Nathan Williamson hit the Alexandra Park track hard and spend the next week in hospital.

To make that even odder, the Queen Of Hearts was won by Francent, who just last weekend finished second in the Breeders Crown in the United States.

Williamson has bounced back to his normal outstanding form since that scary night and Captains Mistress has gone on to become the Inter Dominion champion.

With all that in mind Monday’s race seems an odd one to cross the Tasman for yet skip the New Zealand Cup but it is a bonus for the Kaikoura Cup, even though she seems to have scared some potential rivals away.

The Kaikoura Cup will only have eight starters, with one of them being Captains Mistress stablemate Minos, while drawn inside them will be reigning Horse of the Year Republican Party whose team have chosen Monday’s race over Ashburton earlier this week.

An Australian-trained mare has also opened favourite for Monday’s main trot too. Victorian mare Rockinwithattitude is at $3.60 even off her 15m handicap in the White Morp Motel South Bay Trotters Cup.

While a 15m handicap can be daunting around Kaikoura, Rockinwithattitude meets few of New Zealand’s best trotters before things get far more serious at Addington the week after.

Another backmarker in Tact Teva has opened favourite for the NZBS Yearling Sales Aged Classic even though he starts off 20m.

Monday’s meeting is the second half of a two-dayer kicking off on Sunday.

To see Sunday's fields click here

To see Monday's fields click here