 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 2011
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
2011 RICOH FREE-FOR-ALL
Paul Davies, the bloodstock agent who buys horses for Otago owner, Russell Nieper, remembers the day Jim Curtin trialled Franco Enirate at Addington. "He came back laughing," Davies remembers. "He said he had just driven the fastest quarter he had ever trialled a horse there and he had trialled a lot of horses. He thought he was a bargain even though the price was substantial," Davies said.
The Nieper, Davies, Curtin triumverate have been a force in harness racing for several years since the retired Otago supermarket owner first contacted the agent. "It was a ring out of the blue. Russell said he had raced a lot of horses and a lot of slow ones and was looking for a new direction."
Highview Badlands, a substantial yearling purchase, was among the first, a winner of the West Coast bonus and nine in all which Davies had recommended to Nieper. Quick Reflection and Radar Installed are among several Nieper successes buying tried horses. "Russell was happy to go that way instead of breeding and it is my job to sort them out. Franco Emirate became available after he had won one race. The price was substantial but it has proven worthwhile. Russell is a great owner and client. He lets Jimmy make the racing decisions and he backs my judgement in buying horses, some of them for very good money. You can hardly do better than working with somebody like that."
Nieper started out racing horses with colourful southern personalities such as Noel Crighton and Murray Hamilton and said he had his share of success with both. "Young Pointer was placed in a Rowe Cup and now I have got into gallopers with Murray as he moved into them and I have a share in Kid Columbus which won the Grand National Hurdles at Riccarton this year. I have had a good association with those blokes." Only a week before Franco Emirate's triumph at Addington the Nieper/ Curtin team was posting a double at a modest Manawatu meeting with Hokonui Ben.
Jim Curtin is always a man to take one step at a time. To drive another horse to win the New Zealand Cup when he could have been driving his own - and possibly could have won all going well - is a rare feat but the product of some astute thinking. "It wasn't just the starts. The standing starts showed me he was a little immature for those big races at this stage. We will see how he goes in the free-for-all on Friday before I get down to details about what happens next. The Miracle Mile might be a possibility but ideally I would like to go over later for races like the Victoria Cup."
Franco Emirate never gave his $1.50 backers any cause for concern while Mark Purdon and Grant Payne's All Stars stable produced the next three home, headed by Ohoka Dallas in the hands of Colin De Filippi.
On a more important note, Jim's wife Sandy noted that when Franco Emirate wins a race with a rug as a trophy it is invariably red. "I'm glad. I like red and he looks good in it. If he goes to Australia he will certainly be wearing a red rug."
Credit: David McCarthy writing in HRWeekly 10 Nov 2011