| FEATURE RACE COMMENT |
YEAR: 2006
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| Mary admires the trophy while Cambell replies |
Now in her late 50's, Wych has been in hospital care and wheelchair-bound ever since she suffered a stroke five years ago. So even going along to 'local' racemeetings in Auckland and Cambridge requires a great deal of effort; getting on as plane and flying to another city seemed like too much of a task.
But McJorrow stuck to his guns, Wych finally relented, and after what unfolded last week she is coming back - on November 14 to be exact, where she'll be perched proudly ringside to watch Winforu take on the country's best pacers in the NZ Cup. "Mary really didn't want to go south this week," McJorrow reiterated. "But I just had this 'sixth sense'. And knowing what Geoff's comments were leading into the event, I thought this was going to be Winforu's best chance of getting some form again, even though he had drawn the second line."
Geoff is Winforu's trainer Geoff Small, and McJorrow says the Patumahoe horseman was adamant about making a statement on Friday night - as far as the horse was concerned, and as far as the Cup itself was concerned too. "There is no joy in going back and getting boxed in, so the plan was to push forward if we got the chance," he continued. "It was kind of nice how he managed to cross over to the lead right in front of the grandstand where we were watching him from, too. Winforu's a bit bigger and stronger now, and in a way, he was almost due for a win after being unlucky lately."
And what a victory it was. The In The Pocket entire never took his foot off the accelerator once he reached the front, and after speeding home in 27.8 and 29.3 he stopped the clock at a blistering 2:20.5. Not only was it a fantastic performance under the icy cool conditions, because twice he had to battle head-first into a strong easterly wind, but Winforu's time also equalled the national record for an aged male pacer and was the first NZ record this season.
"Mary's certainly got a good set of lungs on her," McJorrow smiled, re-living the final moments of Winforu's victory. "But she just gets such a thrill out of any of his wins, especially since she bred him herself and has followed him all the way through.
"Knowing that the winner of last week's race automatically got into the Cup was always very much in our minds, so it's great that now we don't have to worry. He's better fresh, and we were hoping for the easiest run into the Cup as possible; we didn't really want to go to Kaikoura. His only other race before then will be Ashburton now."
So what does being in this year's Cup mean to the couple? "It's a huge thrill," he said. "Being in Australia to watch him in last year's Inter-Dominions was great, but I accept the fact that the NZ Cup is the 'Holy Grail' of harness racing in this country. And it's any horse owner's dream, especially when you've bred him yourself. You've only got to look at how many horses are bred and raced, and what a small percentage of them actually make it into the Cup. I know Geoff's always wanted to win the race - and I know Winforu's no Elsu either. But if you are in it, you can win it.
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 11Oct06
YEAR: 2004
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| Campbell McJorrow |
Domiciled in Otahuhu, Auckland, McJorrow was on-course at Addington to witness the victory, and within seconds of their horse's super performance he was on the phone to his loved one to share the delight with her. Sadly, celebrating Winforu's special moments in this unusual way is just something that the couple have had to live with in recent times, because Wych has been hospitalised ever since she suffered a severe stroke in July, 2001. After initially battling through other complications including pneumonia, Wych has impaired speech and still finds it extremely difficult to walk and is basically wheelchair-bound, so her trips to the racetrack are confined to local meetings at best. And this week she had the first of three scheduled operations to try and rectify a perforated bowel, totally unrelated to her stroke, so the victory by Winforu could not have come at a better time.
"Mary's stroke was so bad that initially it was wondered whether she would survive at all, and she spent a very long time in the Intensive Care Unit at Middlemore Hospital," McJorrow said. "But she came through that, and for the last twelve months she has had her own room at the Laura Ferguson rehabilitation Trust in Auckland, which is only about a kilometre away from Alexandra Park. She has seen three or four of his wins at the Park, and one of them at Cambridge, which she gets a great thrill out of. Obviously she is not able to travel to Christchurch, though. I tend to follow the horse around the country, amd Mary wants me to be there even if she can't," he said.
McJorrow (48) and Wych (56) have been together for 17 years. They met in Auckland when Wych went for a job interview at the company where McJorrow was the Managing Director; 'Cupid' fired a couple of arrows, and the rest, as the saying goes, is history. A trained auditor, Wych handled the secretarial side of McJorrow's businesses "brilliantly" prior to having to step aside when she suffered the stroke.
"I developed an interest in horses as a child, because I grew up in a two-story house in Ashburton and could look across the road and see them thundering around the racecourse," McJorrow said. "We had the Bebbingtons and the Lochheads as neighbours, so there was always plenty of opportunities to have rides in the sulky. Mary and I have raced a couple of horses, being involved in the likes of Bonanza Magic from Geoff Small's stable and Justa Toff, Just An Icon and Lover Boy with John Lischner and Ken Barron, but we always thought we would like to breed one or two. We were determined that they were going to be by In The Pocket. Mary wanted to do the pedigree research, and to her credit she spent weeks and weeks and put a lot of effort into finding a couple of suitable mares."
The couple borrowed Kamwood Byrd to breed Winforus, who was sold to America after a couple of placings here, and Beheliem to get Winforu. Feeling like proud, new parents they were there to see Winforu at the property of the mare's owners Steve and Ann Phillips the day he was born. "He was quite unlucky as a 2-year-old, because he got a really bad eye injury after getting caught in a fence and at one stage he had the vet attending to him three times a day. Then he went to Christchurch for the big juvenile events he got mud fever, not in one foot but in all four. It sort of set him back a bit, that is why I believe his win this season in the Great Northern Derby was good for him psychologically. Geoff says he is a lovely horse to have around the place and train, and I think he knows when he does well."
McJorrow has worked in the food industry ever since leaving university and has always been interested in desserts. Looking for 'the big smoke' he moved himself from Marlborough to Auckland and started up two companies that deal with food manufacturing, importing and exporting, and apart from distributing extensively nationwide these companies have now grown to the point where they export to 14 countries and import from five. The products are primarily dessert-related and frozen, and include the likes of pavlovas, gateaus, bavarios, cheesecakes, crepes and savoury burritos and tortillas.
Winforu's victory in the Flying Stakes was as 'sweet' as McJorrow's desserts, and he is hopeful of another bold showing in the NZ Derby. He will be there of course, and Mary will be cheering from her bedside at the other end of the country. "She has got her own television, and a few of the doctors and nurses were crowded around her bed the other night to watch the race. Apparently they all had a great time, because some of them had backed him as well. The staff at Laura Ferguson have been really great to us. Mary has got lots of framed photos on the walls and she loves the ribbons and rugs. Her pride and joy is the dress rug that Winforu got for his Great Northern Derby win - it is on her bed ever night. "The horse's latest outing really was a win for Mary," he said. "I hope that things like this can give her that will to live and that reason to get better, and show her that there is in fact a whole other world outside of hospital life."
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 31Mar04
YEAR: 2004
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| Mark Purdon & some of the Syndicate members |
Australia might have an Inter-Dominion 'King' in the form of Brian Hancock, but we've got one of our own too. His name is Mark Purdon, and the race he's become synonomous with is the New Zealand Derby. Purdon won the star-studded 3-year-old event for a staggering seventh time when he and Likmesiah flashed home to nab Winforu on the post last Friday night.
Purdon's Derby dominance began in 1993 when he partnered Mark Roy, and has been followed by Il Vicolo (1995), The Court Owl (1996), Bogan Fella (1997), Young Rufus (2001) and Jack Cade (2002),not to mention the 'furore' over Hunka Hickling when he was beaten a head by a wayward Stars And Stripes in the year 2000.
This year the task ahead looked almost insurmountable, firstly because Likmesiah with saddlecloth 15 had one of the worst draws compared to the guns he was up against. And the picture wasn't any rosier turning for home, because Winforu was about to slip down into the pasing lane having enjoyed a dream sit behind the leader, and Likmesiah was just getting balanced around faltering runners as he prepared to charge for the line.
But as he so often does, Purdon proved that at no time - especially in the big races - can you underestimate those blue silks with the silver stars. "I thought that his draw could turn out to be not too bad a one, because there was always going to be a lot of speed early," Purdon said. "It just depended on how the race panned out, and whether we were going to have to cover too much extra ground. Turning for home I was wondering how wide we were going to have to come, because Colin (De Filippi, driving Roman Gladiator) was going nowhere."
A furlong from home Likmesiah exploded out of the pack, and it quickly became clear that Winforu was going to have a fight on his hands. Purdon timed his pacer's run with the sort of precision that would make your heart sink if you were connected to Winforu, and after some anxious moments it was confirmed that Likmesiah had indeed got to the line first. "He just knows how to sprint like that, because that's the way we teach them at home," Purdon added.
The $100,000 Lion Foundation sponsored Group 1 event was yet another triumph for Likmesiah's sire Christian Cullen. He was responsible for four of the 14 entrants, all being from his first crop, and they included hot favourite Roman Gladiator (10th), V For (8th) and the desperately unlucky C C Mee (7th). Christian Cullen's principal owner Ian Dobson was one of he first to congratulate the Met Two Syndicate members. "I was thrilled for them," Dodson said. "Especially that syndicate though, because I've become fairly involved with some of the members with having a couple of my own horses out at Mark's. I didn't think Likmesiah could do it turning for home, but I think he even surprises Mark because he seems to grow another leg on racenight. The Cullens have got that will to win, all the trainers are saying that to me."
Fifty people will tell you there's no more fun than racing a horse as part of a syndicate. Better if the horse can win, and huge smiles when it's a race like the New Zealand Derby. Most syndicates are made up of people who can't quite afford to race a horse on their own. Or, even if they can, prefer the friendship and fellowship it provides. These are the sort of people who made a lump sum payment of $1,620 and put in $100 a month to join the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club organised, Met Two Syndicate two years ago. They bought three horses. One of them was Likmesiah, who won $60,800 with his trademark late burst to win the New Zealand Derby. His total earnings are $205,517 - a handsome profit from the $15,000 he cost on Mark Purdon's bid as a yearling.
Credit: John Robinson writing in NZHR Weekly
YEAR: 2003
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Roman Gladiator took the early high ground amongst the 3-year-olds with a lion-hearted win over Winforu in the International Cargo Express Rising Stars 3-year-old Championship at Addington.
After sitting parked in a cold breeze over the last lap, he left 10 others liking their wounds. He could have been forgiven for wilting on his run near the end, but there was no sign of it. Lennon was third without giving the impression of doing any better.
As good as his name suggests, Roman Gladiator is quartered for the time being with Julie and Colin De Filippi, his early target being a heat this Thursday of the Sires' Stakes Series. Colin puts him where he should be. "He was as good as anything last year," he said. "He didn't get much time off between campaigns, but he looks as if he has developed a wee bit. He is the first and only Christian Cullen I have had on the place," he said. Maurice McKendry, the driver of Winforu, suggested that twice into the wind might have taken the edge off him, but he still made a good fist of it.
More might have been expected of Lennon, the favourite, who had cover three-wide behind Stylish Lavros down the back. His driver Blair Orange, who won the following race with Harnetts Creek, was inclined to agree. "You could say it was a nice, tidy run, but also a wee bit disappointing. I thought he might be better coming off their backs, but maybe he is better doing it hard like he did last season," he said.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 8Oct03