New Zealand Racing, 2012-13

[_ed_]

DEANE MARTIN

3 g Keeper - Ela Nimue
Breeder: Cambridge Stud
Owner: G J Ashby, A D Burrett, S B Doull, P Hay, R J Limbrick, J H Martin, C Morgan, A C Peard, B J Wallace & D West
Trainer: Bruce Wallace
Jockey: Sam Spratt

9 starts
2 wins
2 seconds
1 third

Major races:
1st Championship Stakes Prelude

Best replay to watch:
Championship Stakes Prelude, Ellerslie, 16 December
http://www.nzracing.co.nz/RaceInfo/4...ce-Detail.aspx

Derby odds: 16.00

+ No doubts about his stamina - pedigree is full of it, and he's won a stakes race over 2100m.

- He had a long break after his OK sixth behind Habibi in the G2 Championship Stakes on 1 January. He just returned last weekend with a good fourth over a mile - his last start before the Derby. Will he be race fit?

Briefly the Derby favourite after his stakes win in December, Deane Martin has faded a little and fallen off the radar so far in 2013. He was a bit disappointing in the Championship Stakes, and then he wasn't seen until just last weekend. So he's something of a mystery horse going into the Derby - will he be race fit? The Championship Stakes was the worst race of his career - was it a fluke bad performance that can be thrown out, or was he out of depth in that class? It's really hard to predict what we're going to get from this horse on Derby day.