Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh will be looking to follow in the footsteps of his father Bruce in winning the New Zealand Cup at Riccarton on Saturday when he lines up the favourite Nest Egg (by Reliable Man) for the time-honoured event over 3200m.
A highly successful jockey and trainer, Bruce Marsh trained the winner of the New Zealand Cup in 1993 when the Happy Melody gelding defeated Prince Haze and Castletown, and son Stephen will look to add his name to the list of winning trainers on the New Zealand Cup honour-roll when he produces Nest Egg on Saturday. The grey son of Reliable Man has won his past two starts impressively including the established lead-up of the Metropolitan Trophy Gr.3 last Saturday under leading hoop Warren Kennedy who retains the mount this weekend.
Nest Egg looked well “snookered” with just 200m to run last week, but Kennedy found a needle-eye gap and sprinted boldly to land the victory over the 2600m journey. The New Zealand TAB has Nest Egg posted as a $3.80 favourite two days out, with the next best being Uareastar at $6.00, while Nest Egg comes in very well on the handicap with just 53kg which could be a telling factor over the 3200m.