The names of two of the best horses from the Ritchie family past were prominent with a feature race double at Ellerslie on Saturday.City of Auckland Cup winner Showcause, trained by Frank Ritchie, is a son of Showella who won the South Australian Derby for Ritchie in 1999.And Ellerslie Championship Stakes winner Hidden Asset, trained by Frank's son Shaune, is out of a half-sister to Bonecrusher, the champion trained by Frank and strapped by Shaune in the 1980s.Showcause was bred by Terry Archer,

The names of two of the best horses from the Ritchie family past were prominent with a feature race double at Ellerslie on Saturday.

City of Auckland Cup winner Showcause, trained by Frank Ritchie, is a son of Showella who won the South Australian Derby for Ritchie in 1999.

And Ellerslie Championship Stakes winner Hidden Asset, trained by Frank's son Shaune, is out of a half-sister to Bonecrusher, the champion trained by Frank and strapped by Shaune in the 1980s.

Showcause was bred by Terry Archer, whose cousin Peter is in a nine-person syndicate which races Showcause.

Saturday's success was Showcause's second major Cup win for the season after he earlier won the New Zealand Cup at Riccarton.

Frank Ritchie now has a third Cup in mind - the $1 million Auckland Cup back at Ellerslie in March - though Saturday's victory in the Group Two 2400m contest may persuade him to abandon plans to contest the Wellington Cup later this month.

"He'll get a higher rating and we need to be mindful of the weight ahead of the Auckland Cup," Ritchie said.

"I'll need to think about what's the best path for him."

Showcause was caught wide early in the $100,000 feature but Daryl Bradley eased him forward until he was fourth, one off the fence, with 1000 metres to go.

He got to the lead soon after straightening and fought hard down the straight to deny Cassini and topweight Red Ruler, who was conceding 5.5kg to the first two.

Hidden Asset also has a rich Ellerslie prize in March in the mind of his connections - the $2.2 million New Zealand Derby (2400m).

The Derby was won by Bonecrusher in 1985 on his way to becoming the first New Zealand-trained horse to win $1 million.

Shaune Ritchie has not surprisingly been keeping an eye on relatives of Bonecrusher but Hidden Asset - a $50,000 purchase in 2009 - was the first one he has bought.

He is by High Chaparral out of the Zabeel mare Fragile Asset, a half-sister to Bonecrusher.

"I've looked at just about every single one since then, but none of them really grabbed me until this one," Ritchie said.

"Even then I had trouble syndicating the horse. Originally I had three-quarters of the horse, but he became much easier to syndicate once the High Chaparrals started to win in Australia."

The syndicate includes former sports broadcaster Rocky Paterson and prominent racing journalist Mike Dillon.

Hidden Asset came from midfield and, despite veering off to the outside of the track, had enough ability to hold out Hot Pursuit and Yourein.

Hidden Asset is likely to have a short break and then return for the Waikato Guineas and possibly the Avondale Guineas as lead-ups to the Derby.