| FEATURE RACE COMMENT |
YEAR: 2007
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| Nick Off Holme (outer) beating Days Of Courage |
Just to rub salt into the wounds, Nick Off Holme was saddled with the outside of the second line for the $50,000 Firestone Free-For-All over a 1950 sprint journey on Cup Day, which was probably going to be short of her best should the race develop into not much more than the usual sprint for home. The situation did not seem to have changed much either as late in the piece as the field streaming past the 600m, where Nick Off Holme and regular pilot Stephen McNally had only Woodlea Life behind them and a seemigly impossible task before them. But racing is a funny game and this event had actually panned out just perfectly for such a dour stayer as Nick Off Holme, the 6-year-old Holmes Hanover mare.
The pace up front had been frenetic, and anyone who had engaged in it was starting to feel the pinch as they raced inside the furlong. Game 4-year-old Days Of Courage was proving the gamest of them all, but Nick Off Holme descended on him from the clouds and delivered the knockout blow right on the post. In scoring by a nose with a challenge that had been timed down to perfection by a thousandth, Nick Off Holmes posted an all-comers' national 1950m record of 2:19.8, a mile rate of 1:55.3 which will be of immense long-term value to her breeding career.
Changeover's 2:20.3 (MR 1:55.7) from last year's Sires' Stakes will remain as the 3-year-old record, and Rameses and Winforu can still lay claim to being the equal fastest older male pacers in 2:30.s, but Nick Off Holme is now the fastest of them all and obliterated the mares' record of 2:21.3 held by Flying Sands, set in a lower-class race on Show Day five years ago. "I thought they'd got away a wee bit on me, but I knew they'd gone hard and she would run home strongly," said McNally. "But I didn't think she could make up that much ground," he added. McNally also drove Rameses in his record on Show Day two years ago, but outside of Ella Powell's NZ Trotting Oaks last year, this was the biggest win of McNally's eight-year driving career.
Trainer Paul Kerr agreed that Nick Off Holme's Group 3 success was of some consolation and of benefit to her broodmare value, but still would have liked to have seen her in the Cup for principal Christchurch owner Rusty Smith, who races her with Oamaru's David Owens and Dunedin's Bob Shaw after securing her at the 2003 Australasian Classic Sale for $17,000. "Owners dont get too many chances to start in the Cup, and it would have been nice for Rusty to have been there," said Kerr. "And I think on what she has done in the past, she probably deserved to be there too. The races this season before today had just been going against her - she was having to do the work to make them," he added. Given that Nick Off Holme had won more races and stakes (10 wins and $125,317) than Cup starter Keeprightondreaming and could claim two fourths in her three preceding races compared with his one fourth, admittedly in the Kaikoura Cup, a pretty good case could have been made.
Nick Off Holme is now the winner of 11 races and $152,632, which also includes miles at Ashburton in 1:56 and 1:56.7 and a Cup Week double at Addington two seasons ago, and all things being equal she will get her Cup start next year before she begins her broodmare career. There had been no consideration given to the latter this year. "The plan this season was always to have a go at everything, particularly the big mares' races again. She will now be set for the Queen Of The Pacific in Auckland and then come back here in the New Year."
Nick Off Holme has been third in the last two NZ Standardbred Breeders' Stakes to It's Ella and Mainland Banner after being fourth and fifth in the Premier Mares' Championship the week before, while at last year's Cup Meeting she was second to Mainland Banner and pushed her to go a mares' record of 3:09.7 for the 2600m mobile. "She's been a bit unlucky to be born the same year as Mainland Banner and Foreal, but perhaps this will be her season.
Credit: Frank Marrion writing in HR Weekly 15Nov07
YEAR: 2007
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Stig will still be favourite, but Our Sunny Whiz, who did not run on Show Day and Houdini Star and Mountbatten who did, are right in the mix in a race that is now wide open. It may not suit Romper Stomper, in spite of his obvious ability at the top level and his dashing late passing lane run to catch Houdini Star and Mountbatten. Romper Stomper had done his case no good by galloping on the grass at Motukarara and doing the same on Cup Day, but there was good form just behind that when he rattled home for third in the Canterbury Park Cup behind Whatsundermykilt.
Trainer Robbie Holmes did not rate him out of it. He made a couple of gear changes and thought the mobile would be the key to it. He settled him three-deep, behind Mountbatten and the early leader Rhythm Of The Night, and kept making ground on Mountbatten after Braig had retired from a bitter war between the 700m and 400m. "I saw Ants (Anthony Butt and Mountbatten) tiring and my horse just kept digging," he said.
For Holmes, this was his first Group 1 training success. The 8-year-old by Armbro Invasion is raced by Phil Sherley, a Hamilton insurance agent, and John Dickie, who trained the horse and won a heat of the Inter-Dominions last year, and then decided that his best chance with the horse was putting him on the beach. "It's been a real challenge," said Holmes,"but I love training trotters, and I've got half-a-dozen in work and they're all either racing or not far off it."
Hougini Star was a neck off winning and a short head in front of Mountbatten, and there was a gap to Petite Sunset who doesn't need much improvement to join the elite group.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HR Weekly 21Nov07
YEAR: 2007
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Having already trained the winners of six Dominion Handicaps, it's hard to imagine Tim Butt feeling like he was in unfamiliar territory this year.
The Dominion is a race that Tim and his brother Anthony have virtually 'owned' during the last decade, because they won it half a dozen times in a row from 1999-2005. but when Tim took his place in the Addington stand 12 nights ago, ready to watch it all unfold once again, he knew that things had been different in the build-up. Missing was the hype surrounding his stable's representative, the public's focus aimed squarely in other directions; unlike the champions Lyell Creek and Take A Moment before him, Mountbatten wasn't weighed down with a tonne of expectation. The son of Earl didn't own a trotting crown yet, so there was nothing to defend.
A little over four minutes later, that'd all changed. "We got got bit of a kick out of this one," Tim said, comparing Mountbatten's victory to his previous Dominion titles. "Lyell wasn't quite the favourite when he won it the first time, and Take A Moment was third in the betting when he won his first Dominion...all the other times the two of them were red-hot. So their wins were a relief more than anything."
To take home a seventh Dominion Handicap trophy within the space of nine seasons truly is a remarkable achievement by Premier Stables and its three wise men - Tim, 'Ants' and Phil ('Prop') Anderson, who's been part of the team for many years and official co-trainer for the last two. Even more sweeter is the fact that they snared both big plums from this year's Cup carnival, with Mountbatten's victory coming hard on the heels of a mind-blowing performance by Flashing Red. We'd barely finished shaking our heads in disbelief when Mountbatten re-delivered the message, loud and clear: these guys are masters when it comes to setting horses for the big events.
Its quite amazing to think that Mountbatten started the season as a one-win horse, yet 12 weeks later he tears away with the 'NZ Cup of Trotting'. But Tim says he had the Dominion in the back of his mind pretty early on. "I first started to think about it when he won his second start this term, by eight lengths. Obviously none of the big guns were there, but he beat a couple of handy ones in 3.22 - and I timed him to run some bloddy good sectionals that night too. It reminded me just how far ahead of them he was."
Tim says that when mapping out a programme leading up to the Cup Meeting, with a trotter like Mountbatten he'd normally "wait" and kick him off in the four-win grade on Cup Day - which gives them the chance to start on each day of the carnival, and win three races. It's a formula that's proved successful in the past...Take A Moment(three wins in 2000 and two wins in '01), Sonofthedon(two wins and a second in '02), Genius(two wins in '05) and Moment Of Truth(a win and two seconds last year) each putting in three appearances at the meeting. "But I suggested to Mountbatten's owners that I thought we should try and win what we can and dominate," Tim said.
"When he won at Ashburton on Labour weekend he had a hard run, but did it with a leg in the air. And his sectioals that day (56.9 and 27.5) showed that he's got that 'X Factor' as far as speed goes. Then at Kaikoura, I wasn't worried about the fact that he broke because it was it was all about the trip up there. He's a highly-strung horse and can be a bit flighty - most times at home we have to warm him up on the lead with a galloping pacemaker. So Kaikoura was good for him because he saw all the crowds, and stood all day in his box there next to the track where he got to see every race. He's settled down a bit since then."
Next stop was the NZ Trotting Free-For-All on Show Day, a race that Tim admits he set him for. With a two week break from the racetrack since Kaikoura - "a freshener after he'd hardened up" - Mountbatten was right where his trainers wanted him. "He was ready to go," Tim said. "And I was rapt with his run, because it was only in the last thirty metres that they got him. He'd come out of the gate, and eventually gotten to the lead with a lap to go - so he'd sprinted three times before he turned for home." Mountbatten came within half a length of victory in this, his first real test against the big boys, and they'd gone so fast that the eventual winner Romper Stomper shaved a tenth of a second off the national record held by none other than Lyell Creek - the one he set in the very same event three years earlier.
In hindsight it was the ideal 'top off' for Mountbatten's assault on the Dominion a week later, an occasion where, yet again, Anthony would produce a drive that was out of this world. Making a safe enough beginning to land in the one-one for the first mile, Mountbatten lost the cover soon afterwards and Anthony then thought briefly about having a go for the lead himself. The three-wide train had started moving by then though so he opted against it, and their position became more and more precarious as the race got older. Nearing the home turn they were back in the middle and surrounded by horses inside and out...was Anthony going to be able to find some room? You bet! Once balanced as he straightened for home, Mountbatten was set alight by his pilot and they pierced through a gap so small that it didn't even exist. The 5-year-old flattened out beautifully, and Dominion Handicap number seven was in the bag! "Winning these sorts of races isn't about having the best horse," Tim said. "Because in all fairness, horse like One Over Kenny and Stig if he'd started are probably better than him at this stage of his career. It's a case of having them right on the right day."
Talking of days, one that Tim will never forget in the occasion when he first laid eyes on Mountbatten at John 'Coaster' Howe's property some four years ago. He was just a yearling at the time, having not long been broken in, and I went to trial him," Tim said. "Some of the boys were there, standing near a bend of the track by a gate laughing and carrying on. When Mountbatten came around the corner he shied at them, and the next thing I know we're heading inwards, down over a bit of a bank and onto another track, but he never missed a beat, and kept trotting the whole way; most young horses would've had a gallop for sure. I bought him right there and then."
Tim didn't have any trouble rounding up a group to race the precocious youngster, and by the time he made his debut as a 2-year-old in April 2005 Mountbatten was owned by Pete Darby, Bev Hickman, Kevin Schmack and the five-member Foxtrot Syndicate, a group comprising of Graham and Shona Stoddart along with Alister, Ross and Raewyn McCutcheon.
The son of Earl and Sundon mare Sunvette never missed a cheque in his first two seasons, starting 10 times for two wins, two seconds, three thirds, two fourths and a fifth. Then a bump in the road... "He went lame," Tim said. "So we boxed him for two months, and he spent another couple of months in a paddock after that, but when we started on him again he got really sore. In the end he had two screws put into his pastern and was away from the racetrack for more than a year; the injury's not serious, we've just got to hope that he doesn't develop arthritis in it in the future."
That future's looking pretty rosy too, with a fully fit and race-hardened Mountbatten currently on top of his game. He will go north later this month for three races, and then Tim will float the idea about crossing the Tasman. "See, he'll get ten metres in the Rowe Cup now," he said. "But he could also target races like the Dullard Cup and then the Inter-Dominions. I reckon he'd be great in Aussie, because they are good front-runners tracks and he's got that real zip to go past them and take the lead."
So Cup Week in Christchurch has come and gone for another season. Quite simply, this year's carnival belonged to the Butt brothers, their right-hand man 'Prop', and the team at Premier Stables. Their NZ Cup/ Dominion Handicap double was unprecedented - and it might be a long time until we ever see it happen again, if at all.
Tim isn't one to bask in glory, but as a professional he gains a lot of satisfaction from 'a job well done'. Like most people that excel in their chosen field, he's got where he is today through sheer hard work. Yet, he hasn't forgotten that things were pretty humble in the beginning either..."We probably battled for ten years, buying cheap horses from down south and trying to get owners," he said. "We're quite pro-active though, and aren't afraid to get out there and have a crack. Early on we didn't have the resources or quality stock, and back in the year 2000 when we bought fifty acres where we are now, we started from scratch. I work hard on getting horses and owners, because that's where my next Flashing Red's coming from."
If anything, this year's results at the Cup carnival reflect the stable's main focus. "Our forte is Grand Curcuit horses," he said. "And ours always improve from year to year, that's our style of training - we're looking at the long-term picture. Take Goldie Blue for example...he finished third in this season's Sires' Stakes Silver at Ashburton, so at the moment he's probably only just in the top fifteen 3-year-olds going around. But you just wait - in two years time, he'll be one of the top three in that same group. I think a lot of him."
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 5Dec07
YEAR: 2007
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If anything, Whatsundermykilt and Some Direction have raced into action this season already near top form again, and in fact they're winning earlier than the did last season. Some Direction first won last season on October 13 - in the Canterbury Park Trotting Cup - but this season she's won a month earlier. And for Whatsundermykilt it's come a week earlier; last season it was in the Flying Mile at the expense of Allegro Agitato.
The pair, with more than 220 starts between them, are 9 and 10 respectively, which means they've done a lot of hard yards. And they've won a lot of money - something like $600,000 between them. No wonder they had to give starts to all but Pompallier in the Giannis Pita Bread Canterbury Park Trotting Cup at Addington last Friday night.
Between them, they made a great finish of it: Whatsundermykilt hauling in Some Direction after giving the mare at least six lengths start at the 600m, and covering much ground to get to her. Some Direction had been sent to the front at the 1600m by Justin Smith. It was an enterprising move and would have paid off had Whatsundermykilt not carried such a sustained run for as long as he did. The break she pinched 150m out looked the winning of the race, but Shane Wilkinshaw had other ideas as he set Whatsundermykilt after her.
"He had to be brilliant," he said. "The mare made it hard for us, and I thought we had too much to do. It hadn't been easy getting round. Lord Burghley, in front of us, was hanging, and we went from four-wide at the 600m to five-wide turning in. It was a big run," he said.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 17Oct07
YEAR: 2007
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That 'North Islander' was Our Sunny Whiz, who, in her first look around Addington, galloped on the Showgrounds bend when challenging for the front early yet staged a mammoth recovery afterwards to go under by a head. "No matter how good you are, it just goes to show that you can't come off your home ground and dominate - especially against the Canterbury boys," Hutton said. "That was a terrific effort by Our Sunny Whiz after breaking, but she did get a pretty good run afterwards and Rhythm Of The Night dragged her into it."
You could tell that the Greendale trainer had been quietly confident about both his horses' chances in the event too, an attitude that belied their ninth and tenth favouritism on the tote. "The media and public have overlooked them," he said. "To tell how a horse has performed, you've got to look at the whole race. I mean, Rhythm Of The Night took two lengths off Houdini Star the last time they raced here, and all they (the media) could talk about was how good Houdini Star went." That was back at the start of the month, when Rhythm Of The Night ran fourth behind Genius, and having scored the start prior he was taking some pretty good form into Cup Day's race.
Lord Burghley was a different kettle of fish in that department though, his formline reading 006 after starting the season off with a third and a win. "He had bad luck at Motukara, then stood on a shoe after that - we've been battling to get him right ever since," Hutton said. "He hung real bad here at Addington two starts back, even though he showed some speed that night, and it's just been a case of a lot of hard work being put in by my partner Vicky and the guy Troy that works for us. "We use a product called Equipak on their feet, which is really good because it takes all the shock out of them. Lord Burghley's been on it for the last fortnight, and Rhythm Of The Night can't race without it."
Hutton says his latest winner will be staying home on Show Day while Rhythm Of The Night takes on the NZ Trotting FFA field, then both sets of his maroon and grey colours will be donned again in the Dominion. "Rhythm Of The Night normally gives them fifty metres start and then has to go round them, so the mobile's going to suit him. And if he draws good, then who knows. I think both horses have earned the right to be there."
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly
YEAR: 2007
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Waipawa Lad was not one of the favourites, not after he had run ninth in the NZ Trotting Cup three days earlier; his 4:01 wasn't in the ballpark. That didn't faze Jones much. He had won 13 races with Waipawa Lad, and all but one had been sprints. He was third in the Free-For-All last year. Taylor gave owners Ron and Colin Bennett encouragement. "Dean said if we're ever going to win a Free-For-All, this will be it," said Ron.
In the form he was in, Jones could chance his arm and get away with it. And this is what he would do. Waipawa Lad flew the gate and made Baileys Dream work hard to lead him. Close-up Changeover had a tough run in the open, and further back, Monkey King had a tougher one three-wide without cover. Neither figured later, Changeover running ninth, five lengths from the winner, and Monkey King was a place and half a length behind him.
The owners of Waipawa Lad are retired Taranaki dairy farmers who now live in Christchurch. They had never raced a horse before until they bought Waipawa Lad as a weanling for $7500 from Nevele R Stud. Ron had met Taylor during the 2000 Inter-Dominions in Brisbane. "I used to bet on his horses, so I went up to him and asked him how you got started in getting a horse. I said I didn't have any money, so Dean said well we'd have to get something cheap. After a few months he phoned me up and said I'd better get to Nevele R because they were selling ones that had just been weaned. There was a paddock full of them, but I got it down to four or five and then just two. I was looking for one with big ears and a bit of room under the jaw and a wide nostril. Dean had to go to a funeral, so he just left me there," he said.
The one Ron left behind was Brownie Points, who did a job but not to the level Waipawa Lad has. Waipawa Lad is the first horse the Bennetts have raced, but now they have another and the reports are encouraging. "The stud phoned us and asked if we'd like to buy Waipawa Lad's half-brother by Red River Hanover for $15,000. We have done that, and we're told he's better than Waipawa Lad when he was at the same stage," he said.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 21Nov07
YEAR: 2007
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All three were notable in other ways: it was only the second start for Jacanti Franco but she's obviously picked up her game quickly; Continentalman has only two crops on the track; and the only other trotter McRae remembers at Spreydon Lodge was Franco Habit, onr John Hay won with when he was private trainer 10 years ago.
"It was a big thrill," said McRae, who has been in his present role at Spreydon for three years but on the payroll for 13. Because of Spreydon's focus on sales moreso than racing, he doesn't get too many opportunities at high stakes like this, but he predicted the possibility of it a year ago. "I remember having dinner with the owners, and they asked mr who was the next young horse we could expect something special from. They got a shock when I told them there was a yearling trotting filly by Continentalman who could be the one to watch for. She broke in as good as any we had last year. She was fast, and showed ability from 'Day One'. It's the only Continentalman I've had and there's no more I can see coming at present," he said.
And while the conservative McRae is looking forward to starting her in the Harness Jewels, he said he was just as keen on seeing her end this campaign because she wanted a break.
Jacanti Franco is from Jaguar Franco, a Sundon mare who was sold at a reduction sale a year ago. She is the dam of a yearling filly by C R Commando, and is owned in Christchurch by Dave Still.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HR Weekly 16May07
YEAR: 2007
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| Blair Orange & Mark Purdon |
Just three days before the win, Purdon, who couldn't drive in the race because he was suspended, had taken Steve McQueen to Addington for a private workout. the son of Artiscape whizzed his last 800m in just over 56 seconds during that workout, suggesting to Purdon he was back to the form that saw him dominate the juvenile events at the Auckland Cup carnival. But Orange was none the wiser as he rolled onto the track on Saturday afternoon. "Mark didn't tell me until after the race," said Orange. "I guess he didn't want me to get too carried away and out-drive him, so it worked out well. I suppose that's why he's the boss."
As it was, Orange sooled Steve McQueen off the gate and then trailed Roburascal, who rolled along at a solid clip that took mid-race challengers out of the equation. At the top of the straight there were only two winning chances, and Steve McQueen used the passing lane for a copybook victory over the leader, with Fiery Falcon just holding out Absolute Magic for third.
Both Orange and Purdon had been perplexed by Steve McQueen's mixed form since he returned from Auckland but never doubted his ability. Yet, ironically, the gelding is only Orange's third choice juvenile drive in the stable. He also drives top-ranked youngster Ohoka Arizona, who was ineligible for last Saturday's race, while he wanted to partner Fiery Falcon last week. "To be honest that was my first choice but the owners decided to go with Colin (De Filippi), so this really is a lucky win. Not that I thought there was much between them, but Steve McQueen hasn't been one of my drives before. I knew how good he was though, and it was just a matter of him showing his best and getting a little luck."
Credit: Michael Guerin writing in HRWeekly 16May07
YEAR: 2007
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He couldn't remember a day at the races he enjoyed so much as he did at Addington last Saturday - not because One Dream won the $125,000 Nevele R Fillies Final like the trooper she is, but because he'd gone to the races and gone without the pressure. Before, he carried it inside like a friend who wouldn't leave. "As she kept winning, I felt the pressure more and more. No-one else did. It was just me, putting the pressure on myself. I was being growled at to enjoy what she was doing."
And then, One Dream was beaten in the Northern Oaks by a dropped whip and Running On Faith. "I was just waiting for the bubble to burst. I was a mess after that, not because she lost, but because it was over. I was not enjoying going to the races - I was so scared. And I thought 'Ooo, whats happening here?' The good thing was that it brought everything back into perspective for me."
With some relief from that, McGowan was able to sit back and analyse how One Dream had been racing, and he knew she wasn't quite playing the game. "She wasn't hitting the line like I knew she should. So I gave it some thought and decided to work her in half blinds. I had no need to do it, but she was being a bit casual and I knew she needed a wee tune-up." They went on last Tuesday, but not for her work on Thursday, as McGowan considered they had done what he intended. He was right. "I pulled her out on Thursday, to see if it had made any difference. Well, holy sh... I wasn't ready for it, and lost control for a short time," he said.
That was the horse that took the unflappable Cooney to a convincing win over Belletti in the Group 1 feature. "I've driven some good fillies, like Alta Serena and Oaxaca Lass, but they couldn't do what this filly can do," Cooney said. "My own belief is that she's better coming off the back of one, and she's better racing this way round," he said.
A sensitive and gentle man, McGowan had more pleasing moments to come after the race. "Frank and I were taking her back to the box, and each driver of the next race we passed on the track called out their congratulations to us. It makes you feel good about yourself, and you could tell they love to see a great horse win. She's such a sweet horse... no ears back, no swishy tail. And she gets so excited when she goes out to fast work. At home, we'll either go left to the jog track or right when we go to our fast work track. She gets that spring in her stride when we turn right and she knows what's happening," he said.
McGowan made his start in Canterbury with Brian Gliddon, when he had Frosty Lobell and Alias Armbro, followed by time with Murray Hamilton and Peter Robinson, and his first training winner was Fergie's Rocket who won eight for J X Ferguson. He doesn't think the success he's had with One Dream has been a huge success for business, but a documentary on 'The Racing Show' brought him Sue Dreamer, Alta Sirocco and Nicky Hanover. "They've all come with their little problems, but that's where Clare is so good in helping them thinking it through. I really think Sue Dreamer is the fastest horse over a furlong I've sat behind, and I think there is a lot more in her."
Another key to the success of the team is stable driver Nicole Molander. "She's there every morning, and she comes back and tells us things that only we know about. She gives you all this information, and it's all about caring for your horse and making a difference," he said.
McGowan is well aware of where he's heading with One Dream, and the program from here is simple and laid out - as it was when they started. "It's easy to plan for her, because the races are programmed. She races this week in the Oaks, then the Harness Jewels, a heat of the Breeders' Crown at Cambridge at the end of July, a semi-final, then the final, and then it's a spell for two months. Very limited mileage really, because Jill has said she does not want a tired broodmare." So nice for them too, knowing they have a half-sister by In The Pocket waiting in the wings to take her place. "And she knows what life's about. She has that same attitude and quiet aggression that One Dream has," he said.
So, has McGowan really shaken the pressure off? "On Sunday I had a lovely time taking Mum out for Mother's Day, and on Saturday night we celebrated and I had two gins. That was the first time I'd done that since Ballarat." Perhaps he has.
In the meantime, Smolenski has Fraser - her maiden name - Island, a half-brother by Island Fantasy, to look forward to, while their dam Solitaire will be going to Christian Cullen next season.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 16May07
YEAR: 2007
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Fiery Falcon, syndicated for $200,000 only hours after being passed for that amount at last year's Ready To Run 2YO Sale, rewarded his connections at Addington last Friday.
The Mach Three gelding had his big payday in the $175,000 Garrards NZ Sires' Stakes Final at Addington.
He was given every chance in the trail by Colin De Filippi behind stablemate Ohoka Arizona (Blair Orange), who led after 600 metres from a wide gate.
Fiery Falcon had the last say along the sprint lane, scoring by half a length in a 1:58.1 rate (1950m), the leaders running their last 800m in 57.6s.
Outsider Reklaw's Boy finished along the markers from four back to snatch third, ahead of another late finisher in Bettor's Strike.
Fiery Falcon, initially bought by West Melton horseman Michael House for $5500 at last year's NZ Premier Yearling Sale, showed extraordinary speed when trialled leading up to the Ready To Run.
House set up a syndicate including Wellington owner Sir Roy McKenzie, and stable clients, Philip and Glenys Kennard, and Clive and Rona McKay, along with House's wife Michele, to race Fiery Falcon.
House suggested the gelding be sent to premier trainer Mark Purdon, whose record with the gelding now stands at six starts for two wins, two seconds and two thirds, for $143,845.
Credit: Harness Racing NZ
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