Hustler won’t go south unless he’s elevated into NZ cup field

Trainer Ray Green is reluctant to send Northview Hustler south unless he has an assurance the horse will make the cut for the $800,000 New Zealand Trotting Cup.

Green did have Lincoln Farms’ headlining horse booked on a flight to Christchurch on Tuesday but has now decided he doesn’t want to do anything to interfere with his back-up plan, a tilt at the Interdominion series in Melbourne.

Green has a tentative booking to fly Hustler south on Thursday but he might not be boarding that plane either unless the revised rankings on Wednesday see him elevated from his 18th spot of last week.

“As well as the expense of the trip, the horse has to be floated home by road if he doesn’t make the cup and that’s a hell of a trip.

“We’d be better off staying home and zooming into Melbourne with a fresh horse.

“He’s an ideal Interdominion horse, he travels well and he’s tough. That series would be well within his repertoire.’’

The Interdominion this year will follow the traditional format with heats run at Melton on December 1, Ballarat on December 4 and Cranbourne on December 8, with the A$500,000 Grand Final at Melton on December 15.

Green was pleased with how Northview Hustler recovered for third in last Friday night’s Holmes DG at Alexandra Park when he didn’t help his cause by rearing just as the types were released, taking 100 metres before he hit his hopples.

The horse enjoyed a good trip afterwards in the one-one and ran on well, the only horse running past him in the straight the favourite Jack’s Legend who came off his back. Northview Hustler ran his last mile in 1:57 flat, seven tenths of a second faster than winner Let’s Elope.

While Green acknowledges Northview Hustler is in a teir just below the very best pacers, he believes he deserves a place in the cup on his current form and says the horse has already proven he can stay, given an economical trip.

“He’s not one of those horses who’s there just for the sake of it, so the owner can say he has a runner. He’s a lovely little horse who’s worthy of a spot.’’

Incredibly, while he has been racing horses for 40 years, Lincoln Farms’ owner John Street has never had a cup runner.

Neither have the 12 other members of the Northview Hustler partnership who are now on tenterhooks watching the weekly cup rankings.

Standing ahead of him at the moment are Sheriff, who is late hitting the tracks after a little setback but is slated to resume in the $50,000 Flying Stakes at Ashburton next Monday, Alleluia, who ran only fourth at Redcliffe last night, and No Doctor Needed whom he beat for the second time on end last Friday night.

Sheriff’s trainer Nigel McGrath says his gut feeling is the cup might come a bit too soon for the horse but the Flying Stakes will determine his path. The horse might have looked below par when trialling at Rangiora last Wednesday but McGrath says he removed Sheriff’s boring pole to help him get away from a stand (he broke anyway). The pole will be back on at Ashburton to sort out his steering issues.

Alleluia’s trainer Grant Dixon says he wasn’t disappointed in his horse’s run at Redcliffe given he had to face the breeze and had missed his two previous starts through washed out meetings.

“He’s the type of horse who likes racing every week. We’re still trying to get there (Addington) but we’re not going over for nothing. He’s booked over on the 31st but we’d want to be in the top 15 to travel.”

The New Zealand Metropolitan Club’s bias towards programming lead-up races at Addington with free tickets to the cup now sees five of the 15 spots already taken by Thefixer, Letspendanitetogetha, Dream About Me, Forgotten Highway and Alta Orlando.

The next ranking list is due out on Wednesday.