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RACING HISTORY

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Aramid (inner) catches Cracker Nova

Ken Ford turned 57 last Wednesday, and the next night one of the stars of his small racing team delivered his own version of a present by winning at Addington. And it was a decent present too - victory in the $20,000 Ordeal Trotting Cup.

Aramid sat parked during the early rush for positions before Jimmy Curtin pushed him to the front nearing the 2000 metre mark, taking a trail behind Cracker Nova soon afterwards. From there the big Grant Our Wishes gelding had the best sit, all he had to do was lift himself at the business end, and Curtin timed their lunge to perfection.

The victory was win number 10 for Aramid, but just his third in the last two years, ending a frustrating run of poor form that have given his connections plenty of headaches. "We knew something wasn't right with him, but for a while just couldn't pinpoint what it was," Ford said. "There was trouble with his near-side leg, but he wasn't lame or swollen so it wasn't obvious. In the end Dave Senior scanned the leg and found he had a small tear in the suspensory - just the size of a matchstick head. Dave said that we could either push on and it would be alright, and he would probably win another race, or we could spell him and probably win a heap more."

That was last December. Aramid went out for a six-month spell soon afterwards, and the build-up to his two runs this campaign was long and methodical. "I felt for a while he was coming good," Ford continued. "He's just got some tightening up to do yet. He is fit, he just needs that sharpness back again.

Now a 6-year-old, Aramid is raced by Ford and his daughter Amanda Tomlinson, who's not too proud to admit that he is her favourite - or to give him some 'yell' at the end of a race either.

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 21Sep05