A Melbourne Cup start remains on track for Pondarosa Miss despite her unplaced run in last Saturday's Gr.1 Livamol Classic at Hastings.
The Te Awamutu mare was denied clear running when rider Lisa Allpress took a gap inside the final 300m only for the inside horse Blizzard to shift out under pressure and the outside horse Farm Boy to lay in.
Co-breeder and part-owner Darrell Hollinshead said Pondarosa Miss had taken no harm from the incident and she had trained as usual this week as she prepares for Saturday week's newly-named Listed Jakkalberry Classic (1950m), formerly known as the Rotorua Challenge Plate.
"She's come through Hastings well. She's good. We just got chopped in half - she was lucky to stay on her feet," said Hollinshead, whose father Peter trains the High Chaparral five-year-old mare.
"She'll head to Rotorua and as long as we're happy, she'll fly to Melbourne the Wednesday before the cup. We would sooner the Rotorua race was a longer distance, but speaking to [former Matamata trainer] Jason Bridgman, he said a lot of the Melbourne Cup field would be using the Mackinnon Stakes as their lead-up so it's much the same."
Pondarosa Miss will be stabled with Bridgman at Pakenham for her Melbourne trip, with the Gr.3 Queens Cup (2600m) at Flemington on November 7 the fallback option should she fail to make the field for the $A6 million Melbourne Cup (3200m) on November 3.
Pondarosa Miss was leapfrogged by Bart Cummings winner Lets Make Adeal and Metropolitan Handicap winner Magic Hurricane last weekend, but moved up two spots after first acceptors on Monday and was poised to go up one more to 39 in the order of entry after it was announced Irish St Leger winner Order Of St George would not be making the trip.
"We're not too worried really. They fall like nine-pins. Na Botto was about 90 on the order at the same time. Once the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate are run, they will be a few drop away from there," Hollinshead said.
Pondarosa Miss' cup preparation is something of an old-school hit-and-run mission, with the Hollinsheads happy to restrict their mare's lead-up campaign to domestic racing.
"Hopefully she can win at Rotorua, but it's just the run that she needs and she'll tighten up with the trip over as well. She's very much where we want her to be," Hollinshead said. 
