By Joshua Smith, Harness News Desk
Hot And Treacherous will be looking to keep his undefeated recorded at Cambridge Raceway intact on Thursday when he lines-up in the Farrier Supplies Cambridge Gold Cup (Qual) Handicap Pace (2200m).
The Brian and Gareth Hughes-trained gelding was victorious at the Waikato venue earlier this month, with all nine of his previous starts at Alexandra Park.
The son of Captaintreacherous spent most of last year competing against the country’s top three-year-olds and his trainers said he appreciated the step-back in class in his recent outing and they are hoping for a similar result on Thursday.
“He has come through the (Cambridge) run well and everything looks good at this stage,” Gareth Hughes said.
“He went quite good in those (three-year-old) races without getting the best of luck. In a couple of them he didn’t draw that well and got too far back.
“The top ones had pretty good draws and a bit of luck.”
It will be Hot And Treacherous’ first go behind the tapes on Thursday, but Hughes is confident his charge will step away from his ace draw.
“It’s his first standing start,” he said. “His manners are good and he should go away, but you never know. The only benefit is that it is not a huge field.”
Although the Cambridge Gold Cup on Waitangi Day is a logical next step for Hot And Treacherous, Hughes said he will wait and see how his charge comes through Thursday’s race before solidifying his next steps.
“We will take it one race at a time,” he said. “We will just have to assess what he does after Thursday and go from there.”
Hughes will also line-up last start winner Nudist Beach in the Dunstan Horse Feeds Mobile Pace (2200m).
“It was a good win last start,” Hughes said. “He did a bit of work early and then he got the right run and got to the line nicely. He has come through his run well.
“It is a bit of a step up in class (on Thursday). You have got a few horses who have won two or three races in there, so it is a bit different to racing maidens. But he will account himself well.”
The son of Sunshine Beach has drawn barrier five and Hughes said he will leave it up to driver Joshua Dickie as to what he does from there.
“We have just got to see what happens. There could be a bit of gate speed early inside of us,” Hughes said. “Josh will make the call and go from there.”
