There will be no New Zealand-trained runner in next Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup but there is a Hawke’s Bay-owned horse still in contention for the A$10.2million 3200-metre event.

Asterix, formerly trained in New Zealand and now prepared by champion Australian trainer Chris Waller, was 13th in order of entry for Australasia’s greatest staying race when third declarations were taken last Monday and will be assured of making the 24-horse field if his connections want to push on to the race.

An eight-year-old New Zealand-bred son of Tavistock, Asterix is co-owned by Havelock North’s Sam Kelt with another Havelock North couple, Andrew and Lauren Scott, also owning a share.

Kelt paid $450,000 to buy Asterix at the 2020 Two-year-old Ready-To-Run sale and the horse has won eight races from 33 starts and more than $1.5million in stakemoney.

He started out in the Matamata stable of Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott, who prepared him to win the 2022 Group 1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) at Ellerslie as well as the Group 2 Avondale Cup (2400m) in 2024.

The horse was then transferred to Chris Waller and has since twice been successful at Group 3 level, in the JRA Plate (2000m) and Tattersall’s Cup (2400m), and has also won two Listed events, the Beauford Stakes (2300m) and Gosford Cup (2100m).

Asterix’s last start was in the Caulfield Cup (2400m) two weeks ago where he only managed to finish 12th out of 18 but he did finish third in the Group 3 Naturalism Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield three starts back. He is rated a 100 to one chance for Tuesday’s big race.

Manzor Blue, prepared by Awapuni’s Lisa Latta and the winner of this year’s Wellington Cup, was the only New Zealand-trained horse among the 39 horses left in the Cup when third declarations were taken but she was 37th in order of entry.

The mare needed to win last Saturday’s Group 2 Moonee Valley Cup (2500m) to gain automatic entry but only finished 13th and will now chase a consolation prize in the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington on Champions Stakes Day.

“With her paying up for the Melbourne Cup, there is a bonus for the Queen Elizabeth. It is a Group race and she probably needs a bit of Australian black-type,” Latta said.

She added that the Moonee Valley Cup wasn’t run to suit her charge and she is hoping for a more genuine pace in the Queen Elizabeth, run next Saturday.

“They walked and sprinted and she usually hits a flat spot at the 600m. Mick (Dee, jockey) said she didn’t hit it until about the 250 because they had just gone so slow and she was still travelling up so well turning in. Then she came out of her flat spot and finished it off strong.

“Her sectionals were pretty good. The last 200m I think she was about the third fastest in the race.”

McDonald’s Melbourne Cup ride

Champion New Zealand-born jockey James McDonald will ride the European entrant Trustyourinstinct in Tuesday’s A$10 million Ladbrokes Melbourne Cup.

Dual Melbourne Cup-winning Irish trainer Joseph O’Brien has confirmed McDonald will ride Trustyourinstinct, one of five horses he is likely to have in the race. The horse is presently second favourite at $9.

Craig Williams committed early to the O’Brien-trained James J Braddock ($13) while the top trainer has also engaged Dylan Browne McMonagle to ride Defiantly ($11), Ryan Moore for Sons And Lovers ($26) and Wayne Lordan will ride last year’s runner-up Goodie Two Shoes ($26).

O’Brien has won the Cup previously with Rekindling (2017) and Twilight Payment (2020).

Meanwhile Cox Plate-winning jockey William Pike will ride Zakouma in the race that stops the nation.

Pike, the ‘Wizard of the West’, piloted Cosmic Crusader to victory in last Saturday’s Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) at Flemington, his biggest win in Melbourne.

Zakouma, trained by Grahame Begg, is rated a $34 chance.

Saint George has had his Melbourne Cup odds shortened to $11.00 after his slashing fifth in last Saturday’s Cox Plate, which served as a terrific Melbourne Cup trial. Jockey Blake Shinn said post-race: “A pretty good Cup trial. He ran super, bring on the Cup.”

Middle Earth, a stablemate of Saint George, and one of eight horses top Australian trainer Ciaron Maher could line up in the Cup, was a clear last approaching the turn in the Cox Plate but let down nicely late and is expected to relish the rise to 3200 metres. He is rated a $21 chance.

“It should have him spot on for where he is going, on Tuesday week,” his jockey John Allen said.

The other Ciaron Maher-trained horses still in consideration for this year’s Melbourne Cup are Royal Supremacy, Juja Kibo, Zahrann, Point Of Law, Mr Monaco and Shockletz.

Meanwhile the Bjorn Baker-trained So You Are forced his way into Tuesday’s Cup with another excellent win in Wednesday’s Group 3 Ladbrokes Bendigo Cup (2400m), his fourth win in a row. He was a $21 chance before his latest win.

The Melbourne Cup is the second richest prize in Australian sport, contested by horses from all over the world. It is amazing when you think that Australia, and many parts of New Zealand, stop to a standstill to listen to and watch the big event, with a 100,000 plus crowd also expected to crowd into the Flemington racecourse to witness the race live.

Platinum Pantheon in the Golden Eagle

Awapuni gelding Platinum Pantheon will fly New Zealand’s flag in this Saturday’s  Group 1 A$10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) at Randwick, and his chances have been aided after drawing barrier two.

The Stephen Marsh-trained Well Written was leading the Kiwi charge towards the Sydney feature, however her campaign was halted after she had an elevated temperature earlier this month, leaving Platinum Pantheon as New Zealand’s sole contender.

The four-year-old son of Hanseatic kicked off his campaign in pleasing fashion when runner-up at Randwick earlier this month before returning to the Sydney track a fortnight later where he finished 10th in the A$1 million Listed Silver Eagle (1300m).

Trainer Lisa Latta was contemplating a trip to Melbourne next week to line up at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day, however, after it looked like he would make the Golden Eagle field, those plans were swiftly changed.

“He was going to carry 60 kilos in Melbourne, so it wasn’t an ideal race for him either,” Latta said. “He has settled in well in Sydney and when it looked like we were going to make the field we thought we may as well have a crack.”

Latta was over the moon to draw a handy alley and said her gelding will get every opportunity from barrier two, with Andrew Adkins aboard.

“I am rapt to get a decent draw finally,” she said. “I think a decent draw is going to be a big assist.”

Latta has received positive reports on Platinum Pantheon since his Silver Eagle run and said he pleased in his track gallop on Tuesday morning.

“He galloped well, I am really happy with him, so hopefully he can bounce back,” she said.

Napier pair took out punting challenge

Two close friends from Napier combined to take out the title of New Zealand Punter of the Year on the last day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring carnival, on October 10.

David Geary and Heath Caldwell, two former players and stalwarts of the Napier City Rovers Football Club, headed off a 102-strong field of two-member teams that entered the annual competition, which has been a major event on the Hawke’s Bay Racing calendar for many years now.

This year’s entry fee was $1500, with the stipulation that the contestants had to bet at least $150 per race on Hawke’s Bay Racing’s 10-race programme.

First prize was $20,000 cash and a $10,000 bonus bet, courtesy of Entain New Zealand Limited.

Geary and Caldwell went under the nom-de-plume of Rova B Syndicate and amassed a total of $13,980 from their initial $1500 outlay.

They finished more than a $1000 ahead of the second placed Save Trentham Syndicate ($12,837), with Pristino third on $8270.

Second prize in the competition was a $2500 betting voucher while third was a $1500 betting voucher.

Not only did Geary and Caldwell win the $20,000 first prize to go with their $13,980 in winnings but they have also since turned their $10,000 bonus bet into another $12,921.

Geary recalled this week that he and Caldwell concentrated only on multi-bets with the $10,000 bonus cash, taking three or four big bets of $1000 or more and several other smaller bets of $50 to $500.

“Our strategy was that, with our larger bets, we would apply shorter odds favourites in sport and racing and go for the larger returns.

“Our smaller bets, we had some fun with, applying larger odd bets into multis.

“Unfortunately all but one of our smaller bets missed but all our larger bets came in returning a balance of $12,921.”

Their favourite bet was a $2000 multi combining Auckland City Football Club to beat Miramar Rangers by more than 1.5 goals at $1.17; the exact half/full time double in the New Zealand women playing France in rugby at $1.35; Platinum Attack to finish top three in race seven at Ellerslie at $1.50 and Autumn Glow to win race nine at Randwick at $1.26. The return on the $2000 was $3970.51.

In total, Geary and Caldwell have collected more than $45,000 from the competition.