Doomben 10,000 2016: Azkadellia yet to peak as Ciarion Maher eyes big one

WILL a near-fit Azkadellia still be good enough to round up her Doomben 10,000 rivals on Saturday with her grand final still two weeks away?

WILL a near-fit Azkadellia still be good enough to round up her Doomben 10,000 rivals?

That’s the question punters need to ask, with trainer Ciaron Maher making it clear her grand final is still two weeks away.

At the start of her Melbourne autumn campaign, Maher warned that Azkadellia may need the first-up run and his observation proved spot on.

On Friday he stopped short of saying Azkadellia could not win the 10,000 but did highlight again how her Brisbane mission had always been the Stradbroke.

“She’s done great up here, but I think I can have her a little better,’’ he said. “The idea has always been to have her peaking in two weeks.

“When we came up here, this race had the right spacing leading up to the Stradbroke. It wasn’t a race I considered she could win. As it’s turned out, it’s a winnable race in terms of the competition.

“I won’t be disappointed if she gets beaten. It’s an on-pace track and she’s a get-back horse.”

As the only Group 1 victors in the race, Azkadellia and Delectation profile as the two most likely winners on Saturday.

In the 19 years the 10,000 has been run at weight-for-age, 13 winners have gone into the race having already secured a Group 1 race.

Azkadellia’s main target in Brisbane has always been the Stradbroke Handicap. Picture: Jono Searle

Punters on the bandwagons of the two favourites are banking on an odd recent trend continuing.

From 19 runnings at WFA, the only horses to win after settling in the back half of the field are Boban, Spirit Of Boom and Epaulette in the past three years and Mr Innocent in 2000.

In the same time, 12 of the 19 winners have settled in the first four and been there or closer on the turn.

It seems probable Azkadellia will be last in the run coming from the outside gate. Delectation drew far better (2) but his recent pattern has been to find his feet early and finish off.

Of the horses that have come from back in the field to win the 10,000 since it changed to WFA, Spirit Of Boom was the only one that had to deal with a race in which the field came home in sub-35 sec.

Tempo will be crucial to the chances of the favourites.

The pace is seemingly drawn out wide, with Music Magnate (7) and Two Blue (9) expected to roll forward in the early stages. Some pressure came out yesterday with the scratching of Divine Centuri.

This year’s field of nine is the second-smallest 10,000 field after 2011, when Beaded beat a field of only six rivals.

Originally published as Doomben 10,000 2016: Azkadellia yet to peak as Ciarion Maher eyes big one