 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 2009
HORSES
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Nobody saw it coming, but the unthinkable happened last weekend when The Fiery Ginga got beaten. Twice. Rampant and infallible since February, the country's leading 2-year-old trotter is all of a sudden suggesting that perhaps there is a chink in his armour - turning his head to the side and galloping behind the gate. He did it shortly after the start of the NRM Sires' Stakes Trotters Championship at Addington on Saturday, and then repeated the misdemeanour 21 hours later in the slush at Timaru. For many though, The Fiery Ginga's performance to be beaten a nostril at Addington was one of the greatest they have ever seen; memorable not only for how much ground the baby trotter lost and later made up, but also for the mission he was asked to undertake.
In the end he came up an inch short of pulling off a miracle, but it would be remiss to take anything away from the combined deeds of trainer Phil Burrows and driver Jamie Keast who won the $60,000 Group 2 event from the outside of the second row with a maiden filly. Keast was at his brilliant best, keeping Coninental Auto balanced and out of the paths of three early breakers before settling her at the tail of the field on the outer. When The Fiery Ginga caught the pack at the 800m and took off a moment later, Keast set his filly alight and sizzled around the bunch three-wide, all the while being flanked by the favourite who was emptying his tank a cart-width wider.
By the time the home turn loomed Continental Auto seemed to have shaken off The Fiery Ginga, but it was only a temporary respite because the latter charged at her again down the straight, and Keast extracted one last ounce of energy from the Continentalman filly to get her there by a nose.
Back at the stables afterwards, Burrows savoured his first Group race victory as a trainer. "Gee she had to show a bit of nickel today," he said. "We'd actually been a bit worried about her in the last month or so, because she'd started a wee habit of breaking for no reason. But she's so well gaited, and because she very rarely gallops she just didn't know what to do and how to get back into a trot. It's just an experience thing," he said.
Part of the revised game plan for Continental Auto's assignment on Saturday included putting a hood on her for the first time, and taking her out onto the track for a bowl-around an hour before her event. Burrows was hoping it would take the edge off her and hence help her concentrate more, but if anything he says it made her "a little bit agitated" the second time round.
Bred by Mike Gourdie and Michael House, the Continentalman- Auto Bank filly was leased to Burrows initially but recently bought outright by Rangiora enthusiasts Ronnie and Maree Dawe. Burrows has trained from their property in Fernside since last September, and because it was built from scratch - "new track, new fences, stables, the lot" - he feels very thankful to be associated with the couple.
"Ronnie and Maree only got into the game in the last five years through knowing Wayne Ross," Burrows said. "They originally owned The Big Mach who was sold to Tim Butt and BG Three who went to Australia, and got the bug after that. Continental Auto was actually supposed to go through the Sales, but was really lean and tall at the time so Mike pulled her out. I broke her in after he leased her to me, and always liked the way she moved. She's out of a daughter of Indette, so there's a bit of blood there, and I thought with some feeding up she might turn out alright.
Credit: John Robinsin writing in HRWeekly 13May09