MICK TO TRIAL AND MISS KAIKOURA
Karloo Mick will not have another start before competing in the New Zealand Cup on November 10th after winning the Ashburton Flying Stakes on Monday. The "Dubbo Destroyer" enjoyed a quiet Tuesday after defeating a strong field that included Cup hopefuls Changeover and Mr Feelgood and trainer Barry Lew will now turn his attention towards fine tuning the nine year old for the biggest race of his career.

"Before we competed at Ashburton I still hadn't made my mind up in what direction we would head towards the cup" Lew said.

"I didn't know whether to go to Kaikoura or start in the Cup Day trial a week before the main event and I basically wanted to leave it up to Greg (Bennett driver). We spoke about it on Monday and Greg seemed to think that he would be best suited in the Cup Day trial. Kaikoura is a big track, it is very flat and there are going to be a lot of horses in the race."

Karloo Mick's Gr.2 victory on Monday was explosive with the gelding coming from behind the leader running 26.4 seconds for his final quarter. While the win didn't surprise Lew the final 400 metres was a shock.

"They went 26 and a bit for the final quarter and Mick has never gone that in his life."

"Greg said if the horse had been right up on his game he wouldn't have let Bondy cross him and he would have held the front. Greg had a lot of trouble getting him down into the sprint lane when they turned for home because it was the first time he had used it and it was the first time that he has really come inside other horses."

The speed Karloo Mick showed in the concluding stages may have surprised a number of people and Lew is still waiting to hear from the New South Wales Harness Racing Club before deciding what to do with the horse after the New Zealand Cup.

Lew has the option to stay and race 72 hours later in the New Zealand Free-For-All at Addington or he can fly directly home and prepare for the Miracle Mile if invited.

"We'd certainly love to come home for a shot at the Miracle Mile straight after the New Zealand Cup, that is our main aim. If we could hear from someone that he was a good chance in making the Miracle Mile field then we would bring him straight home and not worry about the FFA."

"However it's very hard to ignore a $250,000 race, kiss it goodbye and then find out you didn't get a start in the mile, so at the moment I think we are going to have to play it by ear."

Lew couldn't be happier with the way the son of Panorama has pulled up but believes there is still a lot of work to be done in the next fortnight.

"He had Tuesday off. It's pouring rain over here in New Zealand and it is very cold. Mick ate up well and had a drink so it will be time to get into him and make him work on Wednesday."

DOWN UNDER TO SNEAK OVER TO SYDNEY
Boom Western Australian pacer Sneakyn Down Under is set to target next month's Miracle Mile at Menangle according to trainer Darren Duffy. While Duffy isn't keen to make too many plans before this Friday night's Mount Eden Sprint at Gloucester Park, he intends to head east if the horse continues to perform well.

"We have to get through Friday night and the Mount Eden Sprint first" Duffy said.

"We'll see how he pulls up from there and then we will see if he gets an invite. We are pretty keen to head across to Sydney but I would need to tie up a number of loose ends before I head over."

Duffy is negotiating with a current employee and is hoping that he will stay with him until after he returns from Sydney.

"The best bloke I have working for me is leaving and I'm trying to string him out another month but I am not sure whether he is going to hang around or not and it would make it a lot easier on me if he did."

Sneakyn Down Under would have been invited to last year's Miracle Mile but he suffered a hoof problem in the weeks leading up to the event forcing the directors of the New South Wales Harness Racing Club to reconsider issuing the West Australian speedster an invite.

However the extra twelve months racing at home may have been a blessing in disguise with Duffy amazed at the horse's improvement in the past year.

"I think he is better than he was 12 months ago. He definitely has matured a lot."
"He can settle in his races now where before he wouldn't. He seems to settle back in the field now and even outside the leader he is pretty calm but he can fire up when he gets to the front. We had deafeners in him but they didn't seem to make much difference so we took them off again."

Duffy is hoping regular driver and multiple premiership winner Chris Lewis will make the trip to Sydney should Sneakyn Down Under start in the Miracle Mile.

"Chris Lewis has sort of indicated to me that if we head across that he would come too. Last year if we had made the field he had said he wasn't going to come but there is still a bit of water to go under the bridge between now and then so we will have a better chat about it later."

Sneakyn Down Under broke the Gloucester Park 1730 metre track record two starts ago rating 1:54.6 and has in fact won his last three. The son of Badlands Hanover has drawn barrier six on Friday night in the $50,000 Western Australian feature.