 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 1994
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
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| Ginger Man holds out Rare Touch to win the Derby |
The $125,000 John Brandon New Zealand Derby fell to Ginger Man, but victory in the classic was a close shave for the favourite.
Spirited opposition was supplied by Rare Touch, who put the breeze up the Ginger Man supporters when he almost levelled with the leader about 80 metres out. If it was not quite head to head, there was still very little between them as Ginger Man grimly clung to the tiny margin he had. "I thought about 50 metres out that I'd get to him," said Anthony Butt, driver of Rare Touch. "I have no excuses I didn't," he said. Knowing the class of the horse, Butt was not surprised Ginger Man responded the way he did, and won the Group 1 feature by a head in 3:15.7 - not the fastest but certainly hard and quick.
The race was a good one, made to a major extent by the closeness of the finish and that it involved the two favourites. Ginger Man led after 2000m, while Butt tucked Rare Touch under cover, within striking distance of the leader. He made his move with sudden quickness near the 500m, which effectively blocked He's Gotta Go from attacking on the outer. A betting person wouldn't have wagered on the outcome halfway along the straight, but near the end Ginger Man was giving as much as he was getting and survived, shakily but sure, by a head. He's Gotta Go was a safe third, not far behind, but not quite in the same class as the first two. The others, headed by Hoppy's Jet, were well beaten.
Ginger Man is the third successive New Zealand Derby trained by Roy and Barry Purdon, preceeded by Kiwi Scooter who Barry drove, and Mark Roy, handled last year by Barry's brother, Mark. A son of the deceased Vance Hanover, Ginger Man is raced by Greg Brodie, who will see the horse in his home state during the winter. Ginger Man will soon be off to Australia, where he will be cared for by Andrew Peace. He will contest three Derbies, including one in Queensland, where Brodie lives. The Derby win, worth $78,125, has shot Ginger Man into second place in the list of leading stake-winners, behind Chokin ($394,790), and ahead of Motoring Magic ($167,875) and Il Vicolo ($130,755). Nine of the 22 horses who have won more than $50,000 so far this season are stablemates of Ginger Man.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRNZ Weekly