Outstanding wet track performer Justaskme will carry his lightest weight for years when he takes aim at the Gr.3 Winning Edge Presentations 127th Winter Cup (1600m) at Riccarton on Saturday.
The evergreen performer will tackle the Riccarton feature for the third time, having finished fourth 12 months ago under 61kg and runner-up with 60kg in 2021.
“He has travelled down better than last year and has eaten everything and has been working really well,” New Plymouth trainer and part-owner Allan Sharrock said.
“It’s been a while since he went around with 56.5kg, he’s only three and a-half off the minimum.”
The last time he won with less than 58kg was when he carried 55kg to victory in the 2021 Listed Opunake Cup (1400m) under rider Sam Weatherley, who will be reunited with the son of No Excuse Needed at Riccarton.
Justaskme ran third three starts back in the Listed AGC Training Stakes (1600m) before he worked home late for fifth after tailing off over 1400m at Hastings.
Last time out, he was sixth in the Listed Opunake Cup (1400m) which was relocated from its traditional venue on his home track to Hawera.
“His run was solid at Wanganui after he got held up at the wrong time and in the Cup, it was a race that probably didn’t suit him as much as it would have at New Plymouth,” Sharrock said.
“I was happy with him and his work on Monday before he left was very, very good and he worked super again on Thursday morning.”
The winner of 12 of his 46 starts, Justaskme is coming toward the end of his career with limited future options for the rising 10-year-old.
“There’s very little for him, he is quite effective as a jumper but nowadays I haven’t got the track riders and jumping riders at New Plymouth,” Sharrock said.
“At one time we did, we had everyone here but they’ve gone so if you’re going to go down that road you’ve got to have the tools that Paul Nelson, Dummy (Kevin Myers) and Mark Oulaghan have got.
“He’s a wet track horse and he’s won more than $500,000 so he’s been a great horse and if we could pull this one off it would be a nice prize at the end of it.”
Sharrock is likely to keep Justaskme ticking over in the hope of ongoing rain-affected tracks.
“I’ll probably keep him ticking over to see if they get a wet spring at Hastings, he ran second in the Livamol (Gr.1, 2040m) a couple of years ago when it was a bog,” he said.
Sharrock will also have a number of runners at Hawera on Sunday and tipped a stable newcomer as his best chance in the Peter Kuklinski Retirement (1200m).
“Confetti has to run against a strong maiden, but she trialled well the other day. I got her off Peter and Dawn Williams when they retired,” he said.
Bred and raced by Waikato Stud, the Ocean Park mare has raced three times and was runner-up at Te Rapa at her last appearance in May.