Star three-year-old Sharp ‘N’ Smart will confirm his rating as Australasia’s best young stayer if successful in Saturday’s (4 March) Group 1 New Zealand Derby (2400m), which will be simulcast in Hong Kong.

The New Zealand Derby will be run at Te Rapa Racecourse, while its traditional home Ellerslie undergoes a track reconstruction, and provides an entree for Hong Kong racing fans to the eight races from the Super Saturday meeting held at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai which will also be simulcast for betting on Saturday night.

Sharp ‘N’ Smart completed his Derby preparation with an outstanding win, when caught wide throughout, against older horses in the G1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa on 11 February and has drawn ideally in gate four for Saturday’s assignment.

Last spring, he was narrowly beaten in the G1 Victoria Derby (2500m) in Melbourne after wins in the G3 Gloaming Stakes (1600m) and G1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) and is officially rated 32 points higher than his nearest-rated rival Desert Lightning.

The gelding is “getting better all the time” according to co-trainer Graeme Rogerson. “He’s mentally immature but physically very strong and I think he’s improved since he ran in the Victoria Derby,” Rogerson said.

Sharp ‘N’ Smart’s rivals include three runners prepared by Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott who’ve won the past two Derbies with 45/1 longshot Asterix (last year) and favourite Rocket Spade in 2021. G2 Avondale Guineas (2100m) runner-up Waitak heads their trio after beating home stablemates Devildom and Jaffira in that traditional lead-up race.

The Matamata based co-trainers boast a great Derby history with O’Sullivan having also won it twice as a jockey, in 1990 and 1993, while Scott also co-trained the 2003 and 2004 winners when paired with Mike Moroney. 

Avondale Guineas winner Desert Lightning will be ridden by Vinnie Colgan, who boasts a record six New Zealand Derby wins.

Roger James, a five time Derby winning trainer who now trains in partnership with Robert Wellwood, will be represented by Mark Twain who staked his claim with a win over older horses, on soft ground, at Hastings on 10 February.

Dynastic, a winner on heavy ground last Saturday (25 February), runs for twice Derby winning jockey Opie Bosson and trainer Mark Walker – a five-time New Zealand Champion Trainer and four-time champion in Singapore – but Walker concedes his charge faces a huge task.

“Dynastic will relish the 2400 (metres) but ‘Rogey’s’ horse (Sharp ‘N’ Smart) is going to be very hard to beat,” Walker said.

The track was rated good on Wednesday (1 March) with no rain forecast other than “a shower or two” on Saturday afternoon.