Canheroc has come close to taking out a couple of New Zealand’s feature staying races, and they will once again be on his radar this coming season.
The Chris Wood-trained gelding was third in last year’s Gr.3 Wellington Cup (3200m) after winning the Listed Marton Cup (3200m), and last November he filled the same placing in the Gr.3 New Zealand Cup (3200m).
“He has had a couple of unlucky runs in the New Zealand Cup and Wellington Cup. He probably should have won one of them at some stage but that’s the way things panned out.” Wood said.
The rising eight-year-old had a decent spell after he pulled up lame following the Gr.3 Waikato Cup (2400m) last December, and he will return to the Hamilton venue on Saturday to commence his new campaign in the Woods Contracting 1300.
“He just pulled up a bit scratchy last year in behind at his last race at Waikato,” Wood said. “He had a good four months in the paddock at his owners’ place. He came back from there in good order and he seems a happy horse.”
While pleased with Canheroc in the early stages of his preparation, Wood doesn’t expect him to feature on Saturday over a distance far shorter than his best.
“He has had a few jumpouts, but he is not going to be a force to be reckoned with on Saturday,” he said. “I have put young Sienna Brown on, who is now apprenticed to me, for a four-kilogram weight relief. He won’t disgrace himself, but he will need the run and that will be a good starting point.”
Wood is looking for redemption in the Wellington and New Zealand Cups and said they will be his key targets this season.
“It is nice to have him back,” he said. “Hopefully he stays in one piece and he will be a nice chance going into the staying races for the spring and summer.
“He will probably go to the New Zealand Cup again. He went the two miles last year, he just raced a bit fiercely for him, which was most unusual. He still found the line well after all the effort he put in through the run.”
On Sunday at Te Aroha, Wood will line-up his exciting jumper Smug in the Te Aroha Veterinary Services Te Aroha Cup (3500m), and the seven-year-old gelding will be looking to build on his momentum after downing champion jumper West Coast at Woodville last start.
“He has done good jobs with his two chases he has had – one a bit lucky and the other beating a champion (West Coast),” Wood said.
“I thought we had come undone at the second-to-last when he got a bit unbalanced, but he picked himself up and really found the line. It was an outstanding effort and just shows that we have got something on our hands that is going to go forward with a bit of luck.”
Wood is hoping to see another winning display on Sunday as his charge builds towards the Great New Zealand Steeplechase (6200m) at the same venue in September.
“He is very exciting and the bigger, live fences will suit him more,” Wood said. “Everything is good and he has come through his last run in really good order, I am very happy with him.”