 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 2000
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
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Allan Georgeson finally knows what it's like to be on the other side of the fence. He and his wife Laraine and their friend Robert Rendel have been thrown into the spotlight as the owners of the top trotter Dependable. With the success comes a fair amount of pressure too, but that is a problem Georgeson doesn't mind having to live with.
"The night he broke in the NRM Trotters Championship Laraine and I were at Addington, and a crowd of people in front of us cheered when they saw him go up in the air. We have all started horses in races where you might hope the hot favourite breaks up, because that gives you more of a chance. I know what that is like," he said.
That infamous night back on May 5 has been Dependable's only glitch though, and last Friday he secured his first major title when winning the $25,000 Roydon Lodge NZ Trotting Stakes. "This is a race I really wanted to win," Georgeson claimed. "Camelot Chief contested the event for us back in 1990. I thought he was good enough to win it but he had a bit of bad luck and finished second to Born To Trot, so it was nice to come back with another one and win the event. Everybody strives for that good horse. This time, we might finally have one."
Bred by Keith and Bevan Grice, Dependable was leased to the Georgesons and Rendel when just six months old. Educated by Mark Smolenski, Allan says his Sundon gelding started to show that something special right from the word go. "Mark told me in June last year that Dependable was going to be extra," he said. "He spent 12 months - hours and hours every day - making this horse and if anyone deserves a big pat on the back it is Mark. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to him."
Dependable's trainer Fred Fletcher says that everything the gelding is doing, he's doing it easy. "He is just getting better and better," Fletcher said. "He can run, and he is such a good stayer, and what I also like about him is his heart rate is so good. He's such a big fellow though and at some stage they need to have a break. He could really have a huge 3-year-old year next season."
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 24May00