 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 2004
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
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| Tim Butt, Joan & Peter Cocks savour the moment |
Now 66, Cocks has been racing horses for 35 years. He had hardly ever raced a 2-year-old during that time, nor had he ever had a runner in a Sires' Stakes Final, but Tribute has surpassed both of these hurdles and on Tuesday he iced the cake with a super victory in the $150,000 NRM-sponsored Group 1 event.
"I won't tell you what I paid for him, because I never do that, but he wasn't cheap considering he was only supposed to be a paddock mate," Cocks joked, remembering back to the reason why he bought Tribute in the first place. "We were going to put him through the sale ring after that, and he was all set to be entered and sent away to start being prepared when we decided to keep him. "I think Joan fell in love with him," he said. Probably in the back of his mind also was the fact that of the seven or eight horses he has bought from the sales, Cocks is yet to enjoy a win from any of them. "I think the best I have had was a qualifier. But you never know, it's just bad luck I suppose."
Placed in Tim Butt's stable, Tribute made his debut as a juvenile earlier this year when running a close second at Addington, and then he went down south to Wyndham nine days later and made everyone sit up and take notice of him when he became the first 2-year-old pacer to break 1:55 in NZ. "That was a shock - Tim wasn't expecting much more than a top five finish that day," Cocks said. "Even today we were thinking that fourth would be our lot, because there were a few nice horses in there and some of them have been beating him in the lead-up races; anything better than that was going to be a bonus."
And a 'bonus' is certainly what Tribute's connections got on Tuesday, because after being tucked away sweetly behind Marika, who set a red-hot pace, Tribute dived through at the business end and took out the 1950 metre event in a sizzling 1:56 mile rate. Cocks and his wife are "always" on-course when one of their horses is racing, and in the past they have been on-hand to enjoy such moments as a Trotting Stakes victory by Whizzing By and nine wins apiece by the likes of Eastnor Lad and Greenidge. The latter also started in the New Zealand Cup one year for them as well, finishing 10th behind Bee Bee Cee in 1994.
"This is certainly the biggest win we have ever had, and it is a great thrill," said Cocks, who started up his own hot water cylinder manufacturing company 40 years ago and is still suppling a strong niche market today. "We have got a factory in Bromley and employ ten staff - I must be due to retire soon though," he smiled.
Afterwards, the In The Pocket-Going Royce's trainer spoke very philosophically about the one victory that he and brother Anthony managed to grab on an action-packed Cup Day. "Tribute is a very nice little horse, who is seasoned, and he got the trip and did the business today," Butt said. "Luck probably went our way a bit out there, because there were a couple of very nice horses in that race. But he is a good horse to work with, and he has got a great constitution - he is the perfect racehorse, really. Where he goes from here is up to him now; he will either go on and mature or he will level out, it remains to be seen."
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 11Nov04