Battle of the titans extends to Derby
Garrick Knight - Raceform • November 20th, 2025 3:04 PM • 4 min read
It’s turning into the year’s biggest rivalry but, frustratingly for the connections of star-three-year-old Marketplace, he’s on been on the wrong side of it lately.
Just six months ago he was unbeatable against his own crop, but now Marketplace is playing second fiddle to Got The Chocolates.
The two had one of the best battles of Cup Week in last Friday’s $500,000 Velocity, but Marketplace was bested late despite the best efforts of his driver, Craig Ferguson.
It’s left Ferguson scratching his head in the lead-up to this Friday night’s Gr.1 Garrards New Zealand Pacing Derby at Addington.
“To be honest, I don’t know how we are going to beat him this week,” lamented Ferguson.
“He’s had our measure this time in. I haven’t been able to outsprint him off his back, and he’s beat me sitting parked twice. It’s certainly made things tricky in terms of coming up with a plan for the race.”
Marketplace has drawn the wider of the two in the eight-horse field this week, many other potential starters scared off because the headline duo are simply so far superior to everything else. And that counts for something.
“Gate speed is the one thing we do have Got The Chocolates beat on, though he has been getting out a lot better lately too.”
It at least gives Ferguson options, most significantly that he will be the first one to the markers. Handing up might not be the right play, even though it’s chapter one in the ‘winning races’ playbook.
“If John Dunn leads on Got The Chocolates, I imagine he will run us along at a good speed, because that suits his horse best, rather than making it a dash up the lane, which suits us.”
So it may be parked again for Got The Chocolates, the working theory being that sitting there for 2600 metres is a hell of a lot harder than 1980 metres.
“Our only hope may be the extra distance.”
Another key aspect is the ability of trainer Regan Todd to extract that extra five percent from his horse this week – or Got The Chocolates going the other way.
“And of course it will depend on how each of them has come through last week’s run. Sitting parked on that speed, I would imagine it took a little more out of Got The Chocolates, whereas in the past Marketplace has always thrived on racing. I’m hoping that’s the case this week.”
Marketplace certainly has the constitution to go again just seven days later.
“Probably one of his greatest assets is that he doesn’t take anything out of himself. The way he pulled after the run, plus the indications I’ve been getting from Regan in the days since, make me think he’ll still be peaking this week.”
Marketplace certainly has not been racing badly. On the contrary, he’s racing out of his skin, but it just so happens that there’s a second phenomenal talent in the same crop.
“He’s going super. His run the other day was brilliant. Got The Chocolates just went better. And to be honest, at the 400 metres, I thought I had him beaten, but full credit to the other horse, he lifted to another level.
“For most horses, it’s disappointing having to sit parked and chase the whole way, but he’s not most horses.”
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