Monday afternoon’s $6,000 Auckland Anniversary Day Cup provided a fleeting glance to what Manukau patrons can look forward to with the 527 heats for the $87,965 Plasterboard Auckland Cup rapidly looming.

Pictured: Nangar Rock following his Monday Auckland Anniversary Day Cup win

It was a quality field that was released from the Manukau 527m traps with the majority of the chasers likely to be joined by other classy chasing acts from around the country for the February 25 round of Auckland Cup heats at the elite level.

The smart, recently imported, Aussie chaser Nangar Rock had made an impressive start to his New Zealand racing career from the Denis Schofield kennels when he stylishly won his 457m debut outing at the Cambridge Raceway, clocking a tidy 25.54s.

He was allocated the one trap to jump from for his first race day look at the Manukau track. He placed himself into a handy position during the early rush which saw him leading around the first turn. In close attendance with him was the recent Lisa Cole trained Cambridge 457m Group 2 winner Me Jane, who was also checking out the Auckland headquarters for the first time.

Some of the other leading contenders struck traffic issues heading into the first turn including Bigtime Paddy (Cole), Nature’s Gent (Angela Turnwald) and Zipping Arnold (Schofield). Nearing end of the back straight it was Nature’s Gent who, after quickly improving his field position, he looked to rail underneath Nangar Rock at that point.

The pacemaker, who had moved out to the center of the track, was having down of that as he cut inwards when heading into the final bend, hindering Nature’s Gent forward progression for a couple strides when doing so.

Straightening up for the run home it was still Nangar Rock in control with Bigtime Paddy rapidly improving and ducking down hard onto the rail. Nangar Rock held strongly for his 30.75s win, while it was an exceptional effort by Friday’s Hatrick Classic runner up Bigtime Paddy to claim his second placing. There was the same margin back to Nature’s Gent, while Me Jane maintained her bold gallop for her fourth placing, just a further head behind.

As indicated above, the event served as an appetizer as to what can be expected to unfold during the forthcoming Auckland Cup series – bring it on!

 
Handler Ingrid with the Auckland Anniversary Day Cup winner Nangar Rock; a different look at the Auckland Anniversary Day Cup post race podium

By Peter Fenemor