By Heather Anderson
A select field of nine will face the starter in the NZ$200,000 G1 Haunui Farm Classic over 1600 metres at Otaki Saturday. The slight pick on the morning line is five-time Group 1 winner Kawi (NZ) (Savabeel {Aus}), who will be making his second start since returning from a fruitless three-race Australian campaign. The Allan Sharrock trainee lost all chance after a slow beginning in the G1 NRM Sprint when fifth to second choice Start Wondering (NZ) (Eighth Wonder {NZ}) Feb. 11, but should have come on since that run. The gelding was a winner of the Aug. 27 G1 Makfi Challenge S. and the Sept. 17 G1 Windsor Park Horlicks Plate in early spring, the latter effort the last time he has visited the winner's circle.
Start Wondering appears to be hitting his best stride of late, with two victories at the highest level–in the G1 Railway S. on New Year's Day going 1200 metres and the aforementioned 1400-metre Sprint from three Group 1 runs to date. In between those victories, Start Wondering was only a nose behind Signify (NZ) (Perfectly Ready {Aus}) in the G1 J R & N Berkett Telegraph Jan. 21.
Third choice in the wagering is G1 Australian Oaks heroine Sofia Rosa (NZ) (Makfi {GB}), who, like Kawi, will be making her second run of the season. Despite a seventh-place run in the NRM Sprint Feb. 11, her trainer Stephen Marsh is confident of a good showing from the dark bay, whose long term goals will be determined after the Classic.
“She got a long way back in the running and she got home really well over the last bit,” Marsh told www.nzracing.co.nz. of Sofia Rosa, who is under considering for the G1 Queen Elizabeth S. across the Tasman during The Championships Apr. 8. “I would have liked three weeks between runs, but that can't be helped. In saying that, she bounced through the run really nicely and we expect her to go well again. We will confirm the programme after the weekend. There's a few options and she could go to the [G1] Bonecrusher New Zealand S. [at Ellerslie Mar. 11] or we could go straight to Australia and take it from there.”
If the big guns stub their collective hooves Saturday, Maybe Miami (NZ) (Iffraaj {GB}) could pick up the pieces. The Kevin Hughes charge scored by three-quarters of a length in the Listed Timaru S. at Riccarton Park last out Jan. 28, his first black-type victory.
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