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Life Of Luxury holds out Saxon Lass

Life Of Luxury knocked the favourites off after starting from a second-line draw in the $130,000 Pyne Gould Guinness NZ Yearling Sales Fillies Pace at Addington last Friday night.

She was aided by an astute piece of calculated driving by Mark Jones, which allowed her to win with the authority in which she did. Attsa Nice, the early leader, tracked the winner for the last lap, and had her chance to close the gap in the straight but this didn't happen. She was unable to get past Saxon Lass, a Make A Deal filly who had no luck and missed cover yet lasted pluckily for a clear second. Star of The Ball was put out of commission when she galloped in tight quarters when on the move from the back near the 500 metres.

Life Of Luxury was a cheapie at the Premier Sale two years ago, selected by Malcolm Gillies for just $9000. Gillies has had a long association with the Grice brothers, Bevan and Keith, and he was interested as soon as he saw she traced back to Coo Doo, and such big winners as Barbara Del, Anzus, Stereo Light, Palestine, Columnist and Finest Hour. "She had a Logan Derby nose. There was 'Grice' written all over her," he said. His interest was complete when he saw she was by Live Or Die, sire of Tidal Franco, a big winner he bought at the sales the previous year. "Then we went back last year and bought her brother, Grice, for $26,000, and he has qualified."

Joining Gillies in the ownership are his wife Diana, Andrew Grant, Colleen Breen, Mary Corboy, of Hamilton, Ian Watson and his mother, Margaret. "The common thread was all of us being involved with Dean's stable," he said. Life Of Luxury is trained at Ladbrooks by Dean Taylor, whose other stable star at present is Waipawa Lad, also by Live Or Die. "I have to say the sire has been good to us," he said. Lavish Franco is a Soky's Atom mare from Lady Barbara, by Lordship. She was bred by Spreydon Lodge, and is owned by Roydon Lodge Stud Ltd, the breeders of Life Of Luxury.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 23Feb05

Vicki Purdon & Advance Attack

Advance Attack, a full brother to Courage Under Fire, won the race by half a neck from Ewie Duncan, with a further five and a half lengths to Here Lies a Dream.

Owned by the Estate of J H Seaton, Advance Attack was trained and driven by Mark Purdon.

Lady Toddy lasts to beat Alta Serena

Lady Toddy was all but written off when she drew the cruel number nine marble in the $100,000 NZ Standardbred Breeders' Stakes sprint at Addington last Friday night.

It was a fair call, for neither of the two choices available to trainer Ken Barron made any appeal. One was to ease and go back and hope to hook a ride in the three-wide train over the last lap, or take the enormously risky gamble of pressing on from the start and slip in with cover. This wasn't going to be a drive for the faint-hearted, and Barron knew it and said it. "I told Rodney (O'Neill, the stable foreman) that I couldn't go back if I wanted a fair chance of winning."

Not many try this trick, and those who do it are usually remembered for going on a perilous journey that ends badly. Barron is not one of them. Within 400 metres, Barron had snuggled in to trail Tibetan Lass, on the outer. Coburg held the front, Imagine That had gone three-deep, favourites Armbro Innocence and Alta Serena had taken their only choice and stayed back, and Barron pinched himself to see if it was true.

Even with 1000 metres to run, the back markers had hardly moved, leaving Lady Toddy with a trip she has seldom had this season. She stayed under cover until just before the turn and, in her usual determined style, came out hard and strong. At one stage, halfway down the straight, she might have got a length on the other chances, and while that may have painted a pretty picture then, it started to look less than enough 50 metres out.

Wide on the track Alta Serena started to carve the margin back, slowly at first but with mighty chunks near the end. The post came just soon enough for Lady Toddy. Had it been a few metres more this may not have been the case, Alta Serena's effort was huge, Lady Toddy has long been an Addington favourite and deserved her win.



Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 9Feb05

The connections of Pay Me Christian

Pay Me Christian stamped himself as the best 3-year-old in commission with a brilliant win in the $150,000 NRM Race13 Sires' Stakes Final at Addington on Cup Day.

Pay Me Christian drew nicely at four in the Sires' Stakes Final, and most of those that sent him out hot favourite would have expected him to use his gate speed and go straight to the front, but it was well into the event before driver David Butt got serious about it; it was a pre-race plan that fell into place.

"David and I did talk about it," Kerr said. "We knew there was going to be a lot of speed early, because there were about three horses which were going to try and get the trail behind him. So we just decided to stay out of that early rush and then push forward, and David drove him beautifully. He had to be a real good horse to win it today. And I was just so pleased for him, because he had one or two knockers."

He's not getting all stirred up or being silly when he goes out on the track anymore," Kerr continued. "He's settled down now, and he is starting to develop into his body too. Pay Me Christian's identical to his old man, in that he's got such natural high speed. And he possesses all the same characteristics as his grand-dam Pay Me Back, who was a super,super mare...beautiful gait, high speed, great in the wind, and can stay all day."

Bred by Mark Paget, Paul Mahoney, Gerald Dwyer and Barrie Rose, who own his dam Pay Me Tu, Pay Me Christian was bought back through the sale ring and then Martin Boyce and Terry McCormick joined the quartet in the ownership.

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 10Nov05

White Arrow & Wayne Higgs race toward the Nobilo

The day after winning the Nobilo, Wayne Higgs was taking time to think about it. White Arrow's surprise win in the Group 2 sprint has opened doors previously closed, and Higgs is set to go inside. "I'm pretty thrilled," he said. "We are talking the NZ Cup, the Auckland Cup, the Hunter Cup and the Inter-Dominions. And I'm just the man to travel."

White Arrow made full use of his inside draw and a trailing trip behind Flying Sands to work up the passing lane at Addington and take last week's feature off London Legend. Higgs thought the winning margin - a half-length - could have been more. "He was just winding up at the end because I had two or three goes at pulling the cord to take out his ear plugs. He is a long horse in the cart, and it took me thirty or forty metres before they came out. It is a wee thing we need to get sorted out," he said

Higgs has always championed the merits of White Arrow. This season he has been calling him "a monster," which in the context of what Higgs means is a horse who has come of age and could do something awesome. "I guess a lot of people might look upon him as another Borana or Smooth Dominion; it's up to him. But he is a very good stayer. He won the Nelson Cup by six of seven lengths, and when he won the Marlborough Cup he had a very tough trip and a speed duel, ran the 3000 metres in 4:05 and still kept giving. And while others might be better from the mobile, he has speed from a stand."

White Arrow, a 6-year-old bay by Sands A Flyin, has not had the smooth preparation Higgs had planned to give him but the wheels are back on now. "We missed a workout and the Avon City Cup when he got kicked and it was quite serious. We were chasing our tail after that, and he was down a bit after racing at Oamaru and then at Addington four days later. He didn't eat up the night after that, but he cleaned up after the Nobilo and is one happy horse."

If Higgs had one question going into the Nobilo it was how White Arrow would address the mobile start. "I was concerned because he had never won from a mobile before. But I was able to give him two laps at three-quarter pace for his preliminary. I could not have done that with him six months ago. From a training perspective, that was the winning of the race."

Credit: mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 10Oct05

Aramid (inner) catches Cracker Nova

Ken Ford turned 57 last Wednesday, and the next night one of the stars of his small racing team delivered his own version of a present by winning at Addington. And it was a decent present too - victory in the $20,000 Ordeal Trotting Cup.

Aramid sat parked during the early rush for positions before Jimmy Curtin pushed him to the front nearing the 2000 metre mark, taking a trail behind Cracker Nova soon afterwards. From there the big Grant Our Wishes gelding had the best sit, all he had to do was lift himself at the business end, and Curtin timed their lunge to perfection.

The victory was win number 10 for Aramid, but just his third in the last two years, ending a frustrating run of poor form that have given his connections plenty of headaches. "We knew something wasn't right with him, but for a while just couldn't pinpoint what it was," Ford said. "There was trouble with his near-side leg, but he wasn't lame or swollen so it wasn't obvious. In the end Dave Senior scanned the leg and found he had a small tear in the suspensory - just the size of a matchstick head. Dave said that we could either push on and it would be alright, and he would probably win another race, or we could spell him and probably win a heap more."

That was last December. Aramid went out for a six-month spell soon afterwards, and the build-up to his two runs this campaign was long and methodical. "I felt for a while he was coming good," Ford continued. "He's just got some tightening up to do yet. He is fit, he just needs that sharpness back again.

Now a 6-year-old, Aramid is raced by Ford and his daughter Amanda Tomlinson, who's not too proud to admit that he is her favourite - or to give him some 'yell' at the end of a race either.

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 21Sep05

Geoff Small, Kevin Warneford & Alison Eagle

Kevin Warneford's got a favourite number, and a lucky pair of underpants. The number is five, the underpants are lime green, and both were worn at Addington last Friday night - one by his horse, one by him. But whether luck had anthing to do with it or not, Warneford enjoyed his greatest moment in harness racing when Ambro The Thug won the $150,000 Garrard's Sires' Stakes Two-Year-Old Final.

Sent out third favourite but paying over $12 due to the presence of both Tuherbs and Pay Me Christian, Ambro The Thug was kept out of the early rush for positions by driver David Butcher and settled three-wide in midfield. He lost his cover at the 1400m point when Looksaflyer crossed to the parked position outside Tuherbs, so pushed forward himself, bringing up Pay Me Christian who returned the favour and gifted him the one-one over the final 900 metres.

The race couldn't have panned out better after that, because the two hotshots eyeballed each other with enough pace to stop anything else creeping forward. Having sat there marking time, Ambro The Thug got the 'let's go' signal turning for home when Butcher peeled out to set off in pursuit of Tuherbs. The Armbro Operative juvenile picked up his more illustrious rival comfortably, and if anything was pulling away at the finish to win by nearly a length.

Accepting the trophy from Garrard's representative Natalie Gameson as he was about to make his victory speech, Warneford muttered something else first... "You see that? It's already got my number on it." And he was right. Ambro The Thug had worn saddlecloth five, the very same number carved on the side of the horse that features in the Sires' Stakes trophy. A omen? Maybe. But funnily enough, four days earlier Warneford had actually dreamt that Ambro The Thug would land that barrier position behind the mobile. "Yes, he woke up on the Tuesday morning and remarked that we were going to draw five," said Alison Eagle, Warneford's partner of 11 years. "When I asked him how he knew that he answered ...'because I dreamt it'. Later that day Kevin was feeding the horses while I looked up on the computer, and when I went down to tell him what we'd drawn he said 'you see - I told you so'."

And what about those lucky underpants, where do they come into it? "Well," Eagle sighed, rolling her eyes. "The night that 'Bro' won his first race, Kevin had, by chance, a pair of lime green jocks on. So because things had suddenly gone right and our horse turned his formline around, Kevin thought that they might be lucky ones. "He had them on again the next time 'Bro' raced, and he won again. So now they get washed and folded up and put right at the back of his draw - and don't get worn until the day 'Bro' races."

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 25May05

Molly Darling upsets Mainland Banner

Christian Cullen's complete dominance of the 3-year-old filly features at Addington continued last Friday night when he sired the first three home in the $100,000 Nevele R Stud Series Final.

Molly Darling simply out-toughed the favourite Mainland Banner, and did it on her merits too, being left three wide and parked outside her over the last 800 metres before crossing the finish line half a length clear in a brilliant 1:57.8 mile rate. Absolutely Brilliant speared between runners late in the piece to grab third, albeit six lengths away, and for good measure Christian Cullen's only other representative in the Group 1 event (Kamwood Cully) ran fifth.

Molly Darling's part-owner, trainer and driver Brent Mangos was actually quite humble afterwards, having inflicted the first defeat on Mainland Banner in her eight-start career. "Horses just can't keep winning all the time," he said. "So someone's got to beat them; I'm just lucky that on this occasion it was me. But when Molly Darling's right, she's very, very good. In fact I don't think there is anything between her, Mainland Banner and Foreal," he said.

For Mangos it has been a long, hard road to get Molly Darling back to where she is now, but even if the fickle harness racing public seemed to lose faith, he didn't. The hiccups started after Molly Darling's trip to Sydney in February for the NSW Oaks Prelude and Final, which were the filly's first racetrack appearances since she won the Breeders' Crown Final in Bendigo last August. "Going to Sydney gutted her," he said. "She was probably only eighty percent ready when she went, and afer two big trips and the heat over there she had lost a lot of weight by the time she got home. "So I just backed off, and didn't rush her. That is why I missed the Great Northern Oaks and Sires' Stakes heats - so that we could specifically target these two events in Christchurch. I think she turned the corner the night she won in Auckland prior to coming down for the Oaks, because although she didn't beat much that night she felt like she was starting to come right. And I didn't do a lot with her in the week leading up to the Nevele R Final, but she'd felt good all week at Catherine and David Butt's and never left an oat. I wish the Oaks was next week now, because she just feels that good again."

Molly Darling is raced by Mangos in partnership with Scott Plant, Warren Oliver and Brian Hewes. You couldn't meet a more enthusiastic bunch of horse owners, but over the next few months there are some serious decisions to be made with regards to Molly Darling's future. After a fillies' and mares' event in Auckland on June 10, Molly Darling will either stay here for a heat of the Breeders' Crown on July 15 or cross the Tasman for the Australian Oaks. "Those two races are on the same night," Mangos said. "After that we may well send her to America, and lease her to someone over there for eighteen months or so. It's just that there is not a lot for her here as a 4-year-old mare. She might measure up to the good ones as a five or 6-year-old, but in the meantime she could win a lot of money in the States - and come home with a quick mile time. "It's all about keeping her happy, because if horses are happy they go good - especially mares."

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 25May05

Allegro Agitato wins the FFA from Play On, Major Decision & Some Direction

Justin Smith and Craig Thornley know that Ricky May is the form runner of the NZ Cup carnival. They also know he is on a good thing to add the Group 1 trot to his Group 1 Pace.

May won the NZ Cup with Mainland Banner last week and is cheerily placed with Allegro Agitato to win Friday Night's $100,000 Dominion Handicap. The Sundon mare is likely to be favourite after leading throughout and holding off Play On and the trailing Major Decision in the $50,000 NZ Free-For-All on Show Day.

Smith finished fourth in the race with Some Direction, less than a length and a half from Allegro Agitato, and Thornley ran second with Play On who closed quickly. "She had no luck whatsoever," said Smith. "She is racing as good as ever, but her form doesn't show it. The rest of them are all that even," he said.

Thornley thinks trainer Peter Lamb has Play On ready to strike again. "He feels just like he did before he won the Inter-Dominion Grand Final," he said.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 16Nov05

Toomuch To Do & Blair Orange

There are more rich pickings ahead for the West Melton stablemates Toomuch To Do and Ado's Invasion. Only Prince Sundon separated them from running the quinella in the $30,000 Giannis Pita Bread Canterbury Park Trotting Cup at Addington last Friday night.

Driver Blair Orange said Toomuch To Do was "very stiff" the week before when 10th to Diedre Don, and Ado's Invasion was on the way up after an improver's fifth in the same race. Both are seasoned campaigners, and both have won 11 races, although Toomuch To Do is still behind in stakes. "She is better in her gait this season," said trainer Mike Austin, which is exactly what John Hay is saying about Prince Sundon, who is eight and the same age.

Austin said Toomuch To Do is "flat beating a maiden" in her work at home, but a huge performance to win a heat of the Inter-Dominions last season showed she is up to the best on her day. "She drew fifteen in the Grand Final," said Austin, who added that she has just kept getting better each season.

Ado's Invasion didn't start racing until he was four, missed much of last season because of a tendon injury, and has never been any great shakes over two miles. "That is the best he has gone," said Austin


Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 19Oct 05