| INTERDOMINIONS |
YEAR: 2003
 |
| Gold N Gold & Michael Marais |
New South Wales horseman Michael Marais finally had something to smile about when he steered Gold N Gold to an emphatic victory in the $25,000 Regency Tax & Duty Free Inter-Dominion Trotters Consolation at Addington.
It had been a frustrating series for the South African-born Marais, who described Gold N Gold's win as "too much, too late" after the gelding's inability to get around in one piece during the heats cost him any chance of earning enough points to line up in the grand Final.
Campaigning a horse in Christchurch was a plan that started months ago; Marais was keen to come over, so he scouted around looking for a horse to buy and found out about Gold N Gold through Ray Jenkins. "We get horses all the time from New Zealand," Marais said. "And your trotters are better. Australia hasn't won an Inter-Dominion Trotter's Final for many, many years. I looked at a few, but didn't even trial Gold N Gold. I had watched videos of his races and once I saw him in the flesh that was it, I wanted him. What I liked about him was his size, and he was well gaited."
Purchased in February after he had had a brief stint with Peter Jones (three starts for two wins), Gold N Gold had also won races from the stables of Graeme Rich (three) and the Mike Berger/ Warren Rich partnership (one)earlier in his career.
Despite just the one victory from five appearances for Marais before being brought back across the Tasman, Gold N Gold was, and still is, highly-rated by his trainer. "It is bitterly dissappointing that Gold N Gold didn't make the Final, because he can definitely run," Marais said. "I still had a handful of horse left at the finish tonight. But I could tell as soon as he got out there and started warming up that he was going to go well, because he felt like a different horse. The track was different - it had less top on it and it was hard, which is what horses are more used to. That was one of the biggest factors relating to his form through the heats."
Marais sold up everything he had and moved to Sydney three years ago, after harness racing in his home town basically became non-existent. Having trained horses all his life and driven them from the age of six, he didn't want to do anything else. Today he has 15 horses in work, and he doesn't pull any punches when it comes to talking about his stable star. "He is the best trotter in Australia," Marais said. "He will race around Sydney, Victoria and South Australia for the next couple of months now, and I think he will keep improving. Next year's Inter-Dominions are in Melbourne, and we'll definitely be there."
Also enjoying Gold N Gold's powerhouse display were Doug and Val Hawkins, who sat and watched his Consolation win from their Takanini home. The couple bred Gold N Gold, and Doug remembers him well. "He was always a horse that had tremendous speed, right from the day I broke him in," he said "But he would be good one day, and then misbehave for a week. He would gallop for no reason at all. It was always going to be a time factor with him."
By Evander's Gold, Gold N Gold is out of the Mister Hillas mare Golden Wings, who Hawkins acquired after she showed a disliking for the pacing gait. "She was bought down south by the vet, Tony Parker, and I broke her in for him," he recalled. "But she couldn't pace a yard, so I tried her trotting and she loved it. Tony didn't want to race a trotter though, so we decided to have a go ourselves." Golden Wings won five races, and from limited opportunities at stud she also left the winners Gold Baron (by Whata Baron, 5 wins, sold to Australia) and Golden Flight (by New York Motoring, Australia).
Gold N Gold was an unqualified 4-year-old at the time Hawkins sold him to his next door neighbour Frank Weaver, the owner of Evander's Gold. "I had decided to get out of the game at that stage," Hawkins recalled. "I had done forty years, and it was time for a change of lifestyle. Gold N Gold was the only horse I had left at the time. Had it been years ago, I might have persevered." Selling their property, where Doug managed a mobile car-tuning business, the couple moved to Takanini and retired.
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 16Apr03