3 minute read

Chad Ormsby can’t split his stable’s Gr.1 Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Cup hopes.

The Matamata trainer has been in the driving seat this week when putting the Ellerslie topweight Surpass and Graphic through their final paces and he couldn’t be happier with the pair leading into Wednesday’s test.

“They had their final hit-outs on Monday morning and I rode both of them myself,” Ormsby said.

“They went very well and I think Graphic will find his best form and Surpass will go a bold race.

“He has been running out 2400 metres very strongly and while there may have been a question mark over how Graphic is going, he feels back to his best to me.”

Surpass won the Gr.3 Waikato Gold Cup before Christmas and finished runner-up in the Gr.3 City of Auckland Cup.

He was fifth in the Gr.1 Herbie Dyke Stakes and back to handicap conditions last time out he was third in the Listed Kaimai Stakes.

Graphic was unplaced in the defence of his Gr.2 Wellington Cup title and was less than three lengths from the winner when out of the money in the Gr.2 Avondale Cup.

“They are firing on all cylinders now and they are both live chances,” Ormsby said.

He is also expecting a bold showing from Spitfire Lady in the Gr.3 Westbury Classic.

She was an unlucky third in the Listed Newmarket Handicap and made late ground for eighth in the Gr.1 Telegraph before she was fifth in the Listed Wairarapa Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes at Tauherenikau.

“She struck a rock hard track there,” Ormsby said. “Craig Grylls rode her and he thought she was going to pick them up, but she wouldn’t let down in the straight.”