 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 2003
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
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Peter Revill felt a gentle nudge in the side of his ribs as he thumbed through the pages of his PGG catalogue. It was a beautiful sunny day back in March 2001, and Peter and his wife Wendy had stopped off at Yarndley Farms during an inspection tour to watch a parade of yearlings. They were shopping for a horse, and stood like two wide-eyed kids in front of a toy shop window.
"Oohh, I like that one," Wendy murmured to her husband, pointing to a striking individual with a rich, reddy-brown coat. Looking up to catch the horses lot number, 132, Peter turned to the corresponding page in his book and realised that by coincidence he had already marked it. This horse buying business was all new to the couple, and there were guidelines to follow; whatever they bought had to be a filly, because they were looking for a broodmare first and foremost, and she had to be by Soky's Atom, that was Peter's wish. Lot 132 was both, and got a big tick placed next to her name. Wendy noted that the filly was also called Classical, which was exactly the sort of studies she was doing at the time, so that was enough for her.
The Revills kept their options open though, and came Sale Day the choices had been norrowed down to three...Fantasy Star, Classical and Listen To The Rhythm. And of course there was also the budget to consider. The first on the list was going under the hammer in Christchurch, so Peter flew down from the North Island specifically. But he returned home empty-handed, having been one of the last to shake his head at $26,000. Off to Karaka the next day, and Geoff Small did the bidding on behalf of the Revills, securing Classical $20,000; within half an hour, someone else paid $80,000 for Listen To The Rhythm.
History now shows that the couple couldn't have made a better choice. Fantasy Star was renamed Personality Plus and has won three races and $30,528 to date; Listen To The Rhythm has saluted the judge just as many times for $47,823 in stakes, and Classical's record stands at four victories and $247,565.
The most recent of those wins came at Addington last Friday night, when Classical beat the other two fillies and eight others in a powerhouse display in the PGG Yearling Sale Series Fillies Final. It was the 3-year-old's first victory this season, and ended a frustrating couple of months for trainer Geoff Small. "That's an understatment," agreed the Patumahoe horseman, sighing with relief. "It has been a pretty soul-searching experience. She didn't have one main problem, just lots of little ones. And there wasn't anything we could pinpoint - nothing we could actually fix. It was worse than having a bad horse in the stable - at least you know that they can't perform any better."
Small says the decision to bring Classical to Christchurch wasn't made until after a workout on February 1, and even he wasn't completely convinced. "But Peter said to go for it," he cotinued. "She had a messy week, what with a couple of days travelling and then a trial at Rangiora on the Friday where she ran second to Mister D G. But I wasn't real happy with her; it wasn't a workout that I thought would be good enough to win the Final." The tide turned last Monday though, when Small put the half blinds on Classical and gave her a private run at Addington. "She worked super, coming her last quarter in twenty-six seconds flat.
Wearing the new gear again at Addington last Friday, driver Maurice McKendry felt that she was the Classical of old, saying that when he asked her to sprint to the lead she accelerated so fast that she "dug holes in the track." Small is not convinced that they are out of the woods just yet though, and for that reason he has only planned as far ahead as next week's Nevele R Fillies Heat.
But for the Revills, who leased a racing share in Classical to their friends Owen Whyte, Mike Ringrose and Dean Biddlecombe, they are back on cloud nine once again. Peter, 60, is a retired bank manager, and Wendy, 49, calls herself "a compulsive student." She recently completed a bachelor's degree in psychology, and has started on her next assignment, a diploma in classical studies. "That is my passion," she said. Peter has been back at the sales this week, and this time he was looking for a colt.
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 19Feb03