Fine print triggers Golden Gait start for Ya Eejit Ya

A horse who snuck into his $100,000 Golden Gait harness racing final at Alexandra Park on Friday through a technicality is the biggest danger to our best two-year-old trotter.

Meant To Be (Father Patrick) opened $1.80 for the two-year-old trot on Friday but is likely to start closer to $1.30, with the unbeaten Ya Eejit Ya (Majestic Son) rated his clear and perhaps only threat at $3.10.

But you have to go deep into the fine print of the inaugural Golden Gait series to find how Ya Eejit Ya even got into Friday’s race.

For two-year-olds to be eligible for their finals they needed to have four starts during the qualifying period but Ya Eejit Ya only had three, winning them all.

But the conditions state if a horse accepts for a race but it is abandoned or not held then it gets a “technical start”, which is the clause Ya Eejit Ya triggered.

“We accepted for a race with him but there were only four acceptors so they scrapped it,” says trainer Sean McCaffrey.

“Our other horse in that race Hillbilly got moved to another race against the older horses but there was no race for Ya Eejit Ya that night but he still gets credited with a start.”

While many wouldn’t know about the rule it is a well thought out one and it is only fair Ya Eejit Ya is in Friday’s final as McCaffery has been a key supporter of the juvenile trots all season and Ya Eejit Ya has been a total pro.

He has been too good for Hillbilly all three times they have met and more importantly downed Meant To Be the one time they met after the big boy was checked into a gallop early and made up 50m to finish third.

That was back when Meant To Be was still very much learning and his South Island trip seems to have brought him on mentally and while the best version of him probably wins, Ye Eejit Ya has trotted 58 second 800m sectionals and will be hard to catch over a mile if Meant To Be is giving him a 10-length start.

“My two are really well and Ya Eejit Ya has been trialling and working great,” says McCaffrey.

“He just floats over the ground and he will be in front and if the big horse can beat him then so be it.

“But I wouldn’t discount Hillbilly, he is a real tough bugger and if they go hard he will keep going.”

McCaffrey is stoked to have Con Grazia Love back to her best form and she only just went down to One More Moment in the Queen of Diamonds last Friday and returns for the stronger $100,000 aged trot.

“She had issues with her gut all last season but she is way better now and you can see it in her coat.

“She was good last week and she has gate speed so you might even see her lead this week and she’d be hard to catch.”

The stable also has former southerner What A Minx in the middle aged page for R48-61 and the Cambridge trainer says she will need a hot pace to leave her rivals gasping.

“She just keeps running so the harder they go the better.”

For complete race entries, click here

by Michael Guerin, for Harness Racing New Zealand