YEAR: 2003
Doug McLachlan's eyes filled with tears as his partner Carol greeted him with a hug back at the stables last Friday night. Annie's Boy stood a few feet away, his body covered in sweat from the display he had just treated the Addington fans to. Annie's Boy had run his rivals off their feet in the Inter-Dominion Pacers' Consolation. And, little did he know it, he had almost brought McLachlan to his knees with the emotion surrounding this victory. Half an hour earlier, McLachlan had geared-up Annie's Boy for what he knew could be the very last time on racenight; not just at Addington, but anywhere. For the little pacer from Myross Bush who is known affectionately as 'Jacko', this was do or die. "If he had gone out there and not raced any good, I was taking him home to retire," McLachlan said. "He had been too great a horse to us. After the road we have been down to get him here, I wasn't going to put him through it again." Getting Annie's Boy to Addington for the Inter-Dominions has been a nightmare, to say the least, and all the way through McLachlan was ready to pull the pin at the first glimpse of anything untoward. The Soky's Atom pacer's last full campaign had ended back in March last year, and after a spell he resumed at Addington in September. But he broke a pedal bone during the running that night, and McLachlan prepared himself for the worst. "Our New Zealand Cup hopes were gone, and I was convinced that it could be the end of the line for him," he said. "I put him in a paddock for a month, and threw a colt in there with him for a bit of company. One day I looked out there, and he was teaching this colt to race around the paddock. They were tearing around, and Jacko was running into the corners without any signs of discomfort. So I thought I would take another chance, and try him again." Jogging his pride and joy for eight weeks, McLachlan kept looking for signs but couldn't find any. Addington became a little bit more possible with each week that passed. "I knew we were up against it trying to get him ready for the Inter-Doms, because we just didn't have the races for him down here. First-up he finished third at Forbury Park, and then he muffed the start at Gore so it was just another run. I took him to a workout at Invercargill the very day that the final payment for the Inter-Dominions was due. I drove him myself in the 2200 metre mobile heat and we sat back, then he ran his last half in a tick over 55 seconds. That night, I faxed through a copy of the cheque to Addington and told them it would be in the mail the next day." Annie's Boy's performances throughout the heats didn't earn him enough points to make the Grand Final, but he was improving all the time nevertheless. Twelfth behind Holmes D G the first night, the 8-year-old was unlucky not to finish closer than fourth on night two and then he did all the work to lead and fill the same placing in the last round. His trainer tried something different at the carnival too, sending Annie's Boy out for a three-lap warm-up an hour before his scheduled event each night. "It helped to get his blood pumping, and it got him fired up a bit," McLachlan said. "We'd had some intimidation from the vets on-course during the series, because on two occasions they had threatened to withdraw the horse because they thought he was lame. We even held up his heat on the first night, when they asked him to pace up and down the home straight before allowing him to start. Jacko's always had a touch of arthritis. He has got a club foot, and that combined with the fact that he has broken both his pedal bones during his career means that he has always going to walk with a limp. I specifically asked my vets to document everything before I came up, for this very reason. I had it all down on paper." Handing the reins to Clark Barron last Friday night, McLachlan felt like there was no point to be proven. Knowing Annie's Boy would soon show whether he was up to it or not, he asked his driver to "go out there and get us some money." Barron worked Annie's Boy to the front starting the last lap and they never took their foot off the pedal, winning the Consolation in a tenth of a second quicker than the 3:12.6 Baltic Eagle required to win the Grand Final. The final splits compared favourably too...Annie's Boy reeling off his half in 55.8 and quarter in 27.7, as opposed to the Aussie giant's 57.8 and 27 flat. "It was a great honour to have a horse in the Inter-Dominions, and we were rapt to make the Consolation. To win it, well, I can't put how that feels into words. Since Jacko injured himself again last September, every hour of my time has been devoted to him. It has been a truly magic day, because my foreman Kirstin Green also steered home two winners for us at Invercargill." During the Inter-Dominion carnival, McLachlan said he received offers for Annie's Boy from both Australian and American parties. But selling him is not even an option. "I have just got so much admiration for the little horse. He's the sort I will give to the grandkids. I just don't know what to do, now. Where he starts next will depend on what races we can get over the next month or so, and then he'll be wintered inside. He will tell me when he is ready to retire. And even when he does I will keep him in light work, because he'll be a great team horse to teach the young ones with. Jacko and I have a great bond. When he was born, he was so weak for the first month of his life that I had to lift him off the ground every day to help him stand. He got pretty used to me. I would be out round the place doing something, but I only had to cough and he would leave his mother in the paddock and run to the fench to see where I was." Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 16 Apr03 YEAR: 2001 It was not a pretty win by Makati Galahad in the Avon City Ford New Brighton Cup. He got home in the end, rising to the occasion just when Annie's Boy appeared to be doing enough to slip past. The rallying call was typical of the horse who has been beaten only twice in 12 starts from Fred Fletcher's team at Addington; he has won the others. For most of the race, and all but the first 600 metres or so, Makati Galahad led. Once there, it seemed as if it was a matter of what the winning margin would be, few thought it would be a tight call, with only half a head in it. "He doesn't take a lot out of himself," said driver John Hay. "He never feels very good, but he has certainly got more respect. He is such a great stayer, yet he came home in 56.4 the other night. The two miles of the Cup will suit," he said. Hay says the time will soon come when he will have to drive him in behind. "The only reason we haven't is because it is working well with him the way it is," he said. Hay has driven in three New Zealand Cups, and been placed in two of them, finishing second with Just Royce to Il Vicolo and third with Franco Enforce behind Christian Cullen. His unplaced drive was Debbie's Boy. Fletcher has a simple programme in mind for Makatai Galahad as the Cup gradually comes into focus. "He will race wherever there are suitable races for him, if the money's up he will run," he said. "It will be nice to get a couple of standing starts into him. He loves Addington, so we will keep coming back. The owner has never been to Addington to see him race, but I pick he will make it up for the cup," he said Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 12Sep01 YEAR: 1998
Before the Smokefree New Zealand Derby much of the talk was who would run second to Holmes D G. In reality, that is exactly what happened. Holmes D G took the lead off Motoring Anvil after 600 metres, proceeded to run it hard, and kept the squeeze on. Totally dominant from the time of Christian Cullen's exit, Holmes D G forged clear at the turn, leaving the others to scrap and scrape for the minor money. Annie's Boy was the only chaser to charge with any real dignity, finishing from the back and very late for second. From last, where he must have been eight lengths from Holmes D G at on stage the gap was less than three lengths. Holmes D G ran the 2600m in 3:11.1, a New Zealand record which would have raised a sweat even on Christian Cullen. He gave trainer Barry Purdon his third Derby win, coming after Kiwi Scooter in 1992 and Ginger Man in 1994. As good as they were Purdon rates Holmes D G a bit above them. 'I think he's better...the perfect racehorse really. Kiwi Scooter was a great stayer. I mean he won the Derby sitting parked for the last mile. Ginger Man had the speed, but wasn't tough," he said. A 3-year-old half-brother to Giovanetto, a Cup horse and now at stud in Southland, Holmes D G was bred and trained initially by Murray Gray. He was from Bella Ragazza, a mare Gray claims is the worst horse he has ever trained. "She didn't want to be a racehorse, and I probably would not have bred from her but my partners did," he said. Besides leaving two outstanding horses and a useful one in Economizza, Bella Ragazza is the dam of a yearling colt by Soky's Atom, and is not in foal this season. She has left eight foals, all colts. Holmes D G raced once for Gray, running second in a race at Forbury Park to Enter Hurry Zone. One of those impressed with this performance was Invercargill trainer and former Purdon employee, Tony Barron. As it happened, prominent Australian owner Terry Henderson also heard about the horse and arrived on the scene much the same time as David Sixton, John Hart, John Ede and Katrina Purdon. Four became five, in fact the Second Five Syndicate, which is already well into the black after buying Holmes D G for a sum just over $100,000. His earnings, from ten which include the Great Northern and Victorian Derbys, have how topped $300,000. All three classics have been won in identical manner, in front, rolling along at a good clip, but always in control. "He felt strong all the way," reported Purdon. "He really felt as though he was enjoying it," he said. Purdon said Holmes D G would have one more race this season, the $A100,000 New South Wales Derby on May 8, and then be given a spell. While the Second Five Syndicate is only just over a year old, the principals have been Purdon clients for 12 years. They started with Volarco, a son of Vance Hanover and Via Volare who won a couple before being sold and racing in Australia. Next came Kenwood Don, a useful winner and sold after winning five from eight. They stepped up a notch for their next purchase, spending big money at the time for Montana Vance. He didn't let them down, getting to Cup class. They purchased The Sweeper before the biggest score of them all, Holmes D G. As owners, and enthusiasts of harness racing, Purdon rates them A1. "The good thing about them is the support they give. There's always an entourage. They all went to Australia, to watch them in the Derby, and they are here with all their families tonight," he said. The syndicate also has a Falcon Seelster yearling filly they bought at the sales, while Henderson expects a big run from his galloper Doreimus in Saturday's Sydney Cup. Credit: HRNZ Weekly |