Captain Nemo, second from left, is racing far better than his form line suggests. PHOTO: Dan Costello.
Forget the form line, Nemo is in Saturday’s race at Albion Park ‘right up to his ears’
By Barry Lichter • 26 April 2024
Captain Nemo’s 00 formline might not instil much confidence but he’s in Saturday night’s race at Albion Park “right up to his ears”, says trainer Mark Dux.
“I rate him a good top three chance,” Dux said of the Lincoln Farms’ five-year-old who drops from a band 5 race to a much weaker field made up of up to rating 70 pacers.
Captain Nemo is rated 71, but gets into the sixth race courtesy of claiming junior Nathan Rothwell and what he does from the six alley could determine the outcome of the race, says Dux.
“I’ll leave it up to Nathan to decide, depending on how the horse feels, but I think he’ll probably want to run the way he’s been feeling in his work.
“I think maybe we roll the dice and take our chances. As long as he doesn’t have to burn stupidly off the gate, if he can find the top, they’ll know he’s in the race.
“Sometimes going forward from a wide draw can be your undoing and the only worry on Saturday is I’m worried Allmighty Max might try to hold from three. He won a trial the other day in 1:52.8.”
But Dux says if Captain Nemo goes back and they dawdle, like last week, his chances are nil.
When the leader ran an opening quarter in 32.1, and another in 30, Dux says that was the end of Nemo, who beat only one home.
Despite running good sectionals again - Nemo ran the fastest first half (60.93) and middle half (57.12) and the second fastest last mile (1.56.8), driver Adam Sanderson said he simply couldn’t get into the race.
“I told him to make sure you have him ready to go at the half. He came in and said he was ready but had nowhere to go. He had no choice but to go back to the inside and hope for luck.”
Rothwell will be having his first drive on Nemo and Dux says he’s warned the youngster the horse will feel like nothing in the warm-up and just flop around.
“If he’s still like that in the score-up I’ve told him to drive the horse quietly and, if he has to be the first to make a three wide run at the bell, sobeit.
“It’s a winnable race, I’m really happy with the horse.”
Captain Nemo races at 9.40pm NZ time at Albion Park on Saturday night.
More news in Harness
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Sugar Ray signals start of good year ahead with tough win; blinkers for Lincoln Wave
Winners and losers in dates for the new season - your month by month harness guide
Ray: Sammy Lincoln has ‘turned the corner’ and can go on with it on Friday night
Our runners this week: How our trainer rates them
Ray’s comments
Friday night at Auckland
Race 1: Angelic Copy
4.53pm
“She’s done everything right and trialled really nicely. I think she’s forward enough to give some cheek. She’s only small. You like to think when you get a good two-year-old like her that they’ll get stronger and transition into a nice three-year-old but she hasn’t grown an inch. But she tries hard and enjoys being out there.”
Race 2: Major Copy
5.28pm
“I’m looking forward to seeing him. You never really know ’til you get to the races but he’s trialled well enough to start and I wouldn’t be surprised if he went a good race, despite the draw. He’s a nice sensible colt who’s done nothing wrong and he could develop into a really nice three-year-old.”
Race 6: Lincoln Wave
7.22pm
“He was starting to get into the habit of switching off so we trained him in blinds this week and he went pretty well. He was good from a standing start at the trials with shorteners in and Maurice was actually quite bullish about his standing start manners and thinks that, in time, he’ll end up being a quick beginner. If he steps well, and can land in the first one or two, he’ll definitely be hard to get round.”
Race 6: Sugar Ray Lincoln
7.22pm
“He’s not spectacular from a stand but he will get away, albeit sometimes a bit slowly. Lincoln Wave has more speed than him but if it comes down to a slugfest he’d be too strong as he’s rock hard fit.”
Race 8: Prince Lincoln
8.23pm
“The blinds go back on this week and if he steps and leads like he did three starts ago that would make him the one to beat. He showed with that win that he’s above average and will be a serious chance.”
Race 8: Rivergirl Bella
8.23pm
“You could argue she’s a Cambridge horse but sometimes when you throw them in with the bear cats they lift their game and I thought she was really good here last week. Tony (Cameron) said she’d have finished a bit closer too if he hadn’t had to take hold of her close to home (when he ran out of room and hit a marker pole).”
Race 8: Sammy Lincoln
8.23pm
“We’ve got blinds on him this week. Harry said he lost concentration a couple of times last week, including at the top of the straight, and thought he’d be a bit more on to it with blinds on. I still thought his was the run of the race last time - none of the others could have done what he did - and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him score.”
