Canterbury raider Sheriff showed he was the classiest 3yr-old in town with a dynamic win on Invercargill Cup Day at Ascot Park on Saturday.
The Nigel McGrath-trained pacer continued his rise to the top of the country’s 3yr-old ranks with a five-length victory. Asking Sheriff to run to the lead off the mobile was about all driver Ricky May had to do.
"That was the easiest drive I have had in a while," May said.
The victory justified his trip South. May and Sheriff finished a creditable sixth behind Chase Auckland in the Sales Series Final on December 31 and on Saturday he gave his driver the feel of a much-improved pacer.
"He was pretty impressive, wasn’t he? I was more impressed with him today than I ever have been really," May said.
The victory gave trainer Nigel McGrath a winning treble. Earlier, he and May also scored with Karmic Way who beat Gore Bay, giving McGrath the quinella in race 5.
Then it was quinella No 2 when Maverick beat My Wee Man in the feature, the group 3 Invercargill Cup. It was McGrath’s second consecutive win in the race after Classie Brigade’s sizzling 3.53.5 win last year. Maverick’s time was almost 12sec slower in 4.05.2.
Maverick provided leading junior driver Matt Anderson with his second win in the race within three years. Anderson won it with Costa Del Magnifico in 2016.
The driver’s only concern came just after the starting tapes were released. Maverick skipped away from his 20m back mark, though Anderson attributed that partly to his co-backmarker, Robbie Burns, making such a flying start that it put his horse off his stride. After settling at the rear for most of the way, Anderson put Maverick in the race at the 600m and he wore down his rivals to win.
His stablemate, My Wee Man, put in a big performance to run second. The horse was denied a bid for the lead at the 1400m and was forced to sit parked for the rest of the race.
Roxburgh trainers Geoff and Jude Knight had a successful day. They produced Archman, who rocked punters in scoring his first win by paying $49 in race 4. The 3yr-old Somebeach-somewhere pacer was aided by a heady front-running drive by Rory McIlwrick. The reinsman controlled the tempo in front before letting Archman roll home from the 400m in 27.6sec — the second-fastest last 400m of the day behind Sheriff’s 27.4sec effort.
So pleased was McIlwrick with his work he gave a celebratory flourish of his whip as he and Archman passed the post. The Knight stable later triumphed when driver Matthew Williamson drove Franco Rebel to win race 6.
