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RACING HISTORY

 

YEAR: 2001

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Robbie Holmes & Facta Non Verba
2001 SBS BANKING LIKE IT SHOULD BE/ HELLER SMALLGOODS FREE-FOR-ALL

Mike Berger will never forget last week. On a positive note he won races with Black Maire at Alexandra Park and Facta Non Verba at Addington, but sadly he also lost his father Geoff who died after a long battle with cancer. "He had been quite ill so it was expected, but it still hits you a bit when it happens," Berger said.

Geoff,76, had been a regular around his son's stable since he retired and moved from South Auckland to Morrinsville almost a decade ago. "He quickly made himself 'head boy'," Berger recalled fondly. "He loved the horses non-stop, and as soon as the fields came out he would be booking his seat on the truck no matter where the meeting was. Facta Non Verba was his all-time favourite, and I think the old fella was pushing him over the line when he won at Addington the other night."

Facta Non Verba's victory in the SBS/ Heller Smallgoods Fre-For-All turned around a luckless fortnight that the pacer had had in Christchurch. After looking sensational at the Cup Trials he never got much of a go in the big one when settling on the rails, then in Show Day's Free-For-All it was much of the same when he settled three then four deep.

Berger says that all the credit for this latest win has to go to Robbie and Carla Holmes, who Facta Non Verba was stabled with, and his employee Charles Te Tomo. "Charles really looked after him, and it was such a shame that he missed out on the horse's moment of glory. He had stayed with Facta Non Verba since he had gone south, but when we were getting busy back home and I needed him to come back he did so without a second thought. Charles is absolutely dedicated, and he is the sort of guy I'd trust with my life," Berger said.

Facta Non Verba has had two campaigns in Australia since July last year, winning six of his 13 starts across the Tasman, and Berger says that over Winter this is where the pacer's future lies. "His latest trip wasn't hugely successful, but we actually gained a lot out of it because a vet named Peter Hill talked us into trying a specific shoe on him and it has worked wonders. It is a three-quarter shoe with a bar across, which is a bit of an old-fashioned idea, but it doesn't put any pressure on his heel at all. I am just so pleased for Facta Non Verba because he is such a great personality; when you walk into the barn every morning he will call out to you. In this business you are not supposed to have favourites, but having been through as much as we have with this horse it is hard not to be attached to him," Berger said.

Robbie Holmes said driving Facta Non Verba to victory in the Free-For-All was the highlight of his career. "He is a front-runner. He went so well in the Cup trial in the lead and I wanted to get there at some stage tonight," he said. Berger said Holmes would be 'thanked' for looking after Facta Non Verba by being offered the drive on him in the upcoming Franklin and Auckland Cups.

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 28Nov01



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