Southland Oaks contenders will free-fall down the harness racing grades at Invercargill today.
Betterthanbrie, High Line, Iwanadancewitsumbody and Machitelli will all back up after racing in last weekend’s group 2 Southland Oaks final.
Iwanadancewitsumbody will drop massively in class when she faces a field of battlers in race 11 today.
The Hamish Hunter filly was nearly last at the 400m in the Southland Oaks and passed half the horses in front of her at that point to finish sixth.
"It was a really good run for the class of horse she is. I was really happy," Hunter said.
Her handy draw of barrier 4 makes her the horse to beat.
But her backers should not be surprised to see Kirk Larsen drive the filly conservatively.
"She is just a one-sprint horse, so it is very difficult to drive her at the best of times.
"Circumstances . . . are a wee bit different as we are down in class, but she is better if we can save her."
Southland Oaks third-placegetter Betterthanbrie ran on impressively behind the winner, Dibaba. But her chances in race 5 look to have plummeted after drawing barrier 9.
Though out of the placings, Machitelli went a strong race in the Oaks considering she was one of few horses to do any mid-race work.
Race 5 is headed by the Cran Dalgety-trained Just Dance, part-owned by All Black captain Kieran Read.
After an easy trip on the markers, High Line held fourth in last weekend’s feature. The 3yr-old drops into a strong maiden field in race 4.
Rakamoo and Buzinga look big dangers to the Brett Gray-trained filly.
There is an added incentive for the Hunter-trained Maidonthebeach in race 9, the feature pace.
Victory would hand her a top-12 qualifying spot in the 4yr-old mares’ section of the Harness Jewels.
However the rich race series is not a priority for the mare.
"She is a good old Southland horse and she has proved that this season," Hunter said.
All of Maidonthebeach’s wins have come from behind the mobile barrier and she has failed in her standing-start attempts.
"A 2700m stand is a whole new ball game for her."
The 4yr-old clashes with her stablemate, Groomsman, and there was little between the pair, Hunter said.
