By Adam Hamilton<\/p>\n
It never looked easy on paper.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s just how it played out for emerging Kiwi star Marketplace at his Aussie debut at Menangle last night.<\/p>\n
Regan Todd\u2019s stable star drew wide and had to do all the grunt work outside classy speedster Hi Manameisjeff in the 2300m free-for-all.<\/p>\n
After beating off the leader, Marketplace was still in front with 100m to go but tired late for a gallant third to Mick Stanley\u2019s classy pacer Ubetcha Tigerpie with the talented Double Lou second.<\/p>\n
They went a scorching 1min52.1sec for the 2300m.<\/p>\n
Marketplace was only beaten 3.3m and the option is there for Todd to give him another lead-up run before his major Aussie target, the $300,000 Group 1 Rising Sun at Albion Park on July 4.<\/p>\n
There was lots to like about his run last night under the circumstances.<\/p>\n
Marketplace\u2019s major Rising Sun rivals, Captains Mistress and Hollywood Strip, are expected to have their final lead-up runs next weekend.<\/p>\n
Captains Mistress could go to a mares\u2019 race at Redcliffe on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Hollywood Strip has the option of a free-for-all test at Menangle on the same night.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all part of a big next weekend.<\/p>\n
On Friday night, Leap To Fame is poised to have his final lead-up run for the Inter Dominion.<\/p>\n
A probable rival in the 2138m free-for-all will be Queensland\u2019s other top pacer, The Janitor, who ran second to Leap To Fame in the Miracle Mile.<\/p>\n
They are set to be part of a small but select field.<\/p>\n
The Janitor\u2019s stablemate, star trotter Gus, is also expected to run Friday night at Albion Park.<\/p>\n
Gus is into a commanding $1.50 favourite for the Inter Dominion trotting final.<\/p>\n
His chances have soared with Keayang Zahara out spelling and her star stablemate Jilliby Ballerini scratched from the series last Friday with a hoof issue.<\/p>\n
Former Kiwi trotter Lovemeto booked his trip to the series for trainer Chris Svanosio with a narrow but impressive Melton win last night.<\/p>\n
He was driven by Kerryn Manning, who is set to keep the drive in Brisbane.<\/p>\n
Lovemeto was a top young Kiwi trotter before injuries and Svanosio has nursed him back to peak form.<\/p>\n
Svanosio also has defending Inter Dominion trotting champion Arcee Phoenix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Adam Hamilton It never looked easy on paper. And that\u2019s just how it played out for emerging…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-476227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}