2008 NSW Derby Preview

May 1st, 2008 by Andrew Georgiou

MASTER reinsman Brian Gath was delighted for two reasons when he had a look at the barrier draw for this Friday night's $100,000 Christian Cullen New South Wales Derby over 2565 metres at Harold Park.

Firstly, his pacer Maffioso came up with the coveted pole position and secondly, the unbeaten Greg Kelly drew the inside of the second line.

This undoubtedly gives Maffioso the edge in pre-race discussions.

"I was very pleased when I saw the draw," Gath said.

"He has good speed out of the gate so I would imagine we will be in front of them early.

"He races well in the lead and hasn't been beaten that often when in that situation, so I would say that is the plan again.

"Having Greg Kelly on my back at the start will be good but he has trailed us in the past and still got the result.

"If my bloke relaxes and runs up to his best form then it will take a sensational effort to beat him."

Ironically, both Maffioso and Greg Kelly, which will start as the two favourites for the event, are by American sire Presidential Ball.

Both are also Derby winners already this season, having captured the South Australian and Australian versions respectively.

Maffioso heads into the Final with back-to-back wins since finishing fourth in Greg Kelly's Australian Derby win on March 23.

Winning a C2-C3 race in 1:57.4 at Bendigo, he then held off the fast-finishing Standelle at Harold Park last Friday in a qualifier.

Gath said the Peter Tonkin-trained pacer has been "up and down" this season but has more often than not been good in his races.

"He has tended to be a bit patchy," he admitted.

"There have been a few runs where he has been exceptional and others were he has been a bit high and raced fierce.

"In the Victoria Derby, he raced fiercely and got away on me which resulted in him dropping out to finish seventh.

"The good thing is that he's settled in Sydney quite well and Peter (Tonkin) has him spot on going into the race."

Gath pointed out that other than Greg Kelly, Im The Navigator (four) and Standelle (seven) were ones to look out for.

"I drove Im The Navigator last week and he did extremely well," he said.

"He had to do a lot of work in the last lap and he loomed up to win but faded to finish fourth.

"He has a sensational burst of speed for about 200 metres so if he is close enough at the finish and gets luck, he will be hard to hold out.

"Standelle finished strong against Maffioso last week after doing work so I was really impressed with him too.

"In saying that, my bloke switched off once he hit the front which is a bit of a concern, but both runs were full of merit."

Bruce Harpley will have an interesting decision to make at the start of the Derby with Greg Kelly - whether or not to push up onto the back of Maffioso or drag back to last.

If he pushes up, he risks getting pocketed for most of the trip or even worse, being stuck three-pegs if Maffioso is crossed.

If he drags back to last and the front-runners walk, it will take a Herculean performance to go around such a quality field.