| FEATURE RACE COMMENT |
YEAR: 1999
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| The Maceys with driver Todd Mitchell |
A medley of incidents and accidents before the start added spark to the DB Draught NZ Trotting Cup at Addington on Tuesday.
The signs were there but hard to read when Ritchi reared in the birdcage as the horses left for the barrier. Once at the start, and when all was in readiness, Ritchie performed again, this time rearing backwards and buckling his sulky shafts. Driver David Butcher was lucky to be unhurt and he deserved a medal for holding on and saving what might have been a minor disaster. It was bad enough as it was. Club veterinary surgeon Cliff McGrouther was then despatched to the start to see if Ritchie was in the right health to start. He was, though Steven Reid, his co-trainer with Tremain Thorby, thought the prudent course might have been to scratch him considering the drama he'd been through.
The second attempt to line up was better but not good. Happy Asset nearly went through the strand and had to be taken out and put in line again. No sooner had he stood up again, and they were off, but not with Agua Caliente. Under Cover Lover was a clear leader and Ritchie was with her after 300 metres when starter Jack Mulcay whistled them back for a false start. Chief Stipe Neil Escott was soon in contact with Mulcay: "What's happening over there?" "Agua Caliente was side on," reported Mulcay.
Meantime, in the engine room, Racing Manager Tony Lye is reopening the tote, checking the start time of a North Island galloping race, and thinking the delay might mean a bigger handle. Nearly 20 minutes have gone since start time, and the field is still in the starters hands.
HRNZ Executive Member Charlie Hunter, who has seen his fair share of Cups, goes past: "Ever seen anything like this before?" CEO Mike Godber sees some relief in the situation. Sweating in his tails, he is able to remove his top hat and mop the brow. "I won't look. Just tell me if they're all away," he says.
At the third attempt, the field is despatched as one, with Under Cover Lover again leading out from Kate's First and Holmes D G. At this point, Barry Purdon, still thinking he had a lucky break over the false start when Holmes D G made a match-losing gallop, drives the favourite forward to lead. This was predictable. In the last five or six years, the Cup favourites have always led over the last mile and most of them for much more. This is the place for the best horse to be, and Purdon was happy to be there. Agua Caliente was back and Homin Hosed parked. No change, except for a plucky run by Bogan Fella who came up to be second with a lap to run. But still no pressure, and no time to talk of.
The race almost had a fairy-tale look on the corner. 'A driving win for Barry at his ninth attempt ...or was it 10?' 'A very worthy consolation prize for beleagured All Black coach John Hart who arrived home from England at 5am that morning.' 'The favourite delivers in the end.' And the picture developed with some certainty like this from the 400m to the 300m and the 200m, even the 100m where Bogan Fella finally let go. But shapes change and Purdon was somewhat dismayed a few strides later when he saw a head appear outside of Bogan Fella and coming at quite a rattle. "I couldn't see the horse, just a head. I thought it was Denis Wilson's horse," he said. The danger was greater than that. Homin Hosed.
Addington has been good country in the past for Holmes D G. It's also been the land of plenty for Homin Hosed. In two starts, he hasn't been beaten at Addington. At 3200m, his record at Addington is perfect. After looking so convincing for so long up the straight, Holmes D G lingered for just a fraction near the post. Purdon knew it. "I thought there might have been half a head in it," he said. There was a nose, and Homin Hosed still has a perfect record at Addington.
Time is critical but margins win races. 4:04.3 is the official time for Homin Hosed and Holmes D G in the DB Draught NZ Trotting Cup. In the space of less than a tenth of a second, when small fortunes can be won and lost, Homin Hosed nailed the victory in the very last stride. The difference was huge: $209,000 instead of $69,910, honourable mention in the record books, fame and fortune by a nose.
It was a Holmes Hanover quinella in the DB Draught NZ Cup, a North Island 1,2,3,4 with Bogan Fella third and Kate's First fourth - a tight finish after a tame race.
The winners are modest, retiring people. The Maceys, Bryan and his wife Marilyn, are 66 and 65. Instead of doing less at their age, they are doing more; Bryan busy with six horses besides Homin Hosed, Marilyn managing an educational trust. When it came to say thanks for so much to so many at the end of the race, it was Marilyn who took charge. "I don't think Bryan could say anything at the moment." Clutching the Cup, she said:"We've never been here on Cup Day before. It was going to be a wonderful day for us, even without winning," she said. After thanking the club, the sponsors, their driver Todd Mitchell, Marilyn said:"And I must thank the trainer. I am only a part-owner but I must say it's our most memorable moment." Later Bryan did have his say: "I can't really describe how I feel at the moment."
All agree, Homin Hosed has never run a bad race. He won his first race in modest company at Manawatu. "Peter Stephens loaned us Miss Piggy, a Noodlum mare, and one of the chaps from Pyne Gould Guinness said we couldn't go wrong sending her to Holmes Hanover," he recalled. Miss Piggy was from Halter Prize, by Mark Lobell, from the Lucky Hanover mare Lucky Lea, who earlier left the useful winners Hanover Heels and Halter Hal. Previously, she had been to Happy Cat, Slugger and Cheshire, none of which figured in the same commercial street as Holmes.
Macey, a retired vet, put his foot in the water as a trainer in the 80s when he bred an raced Royal Pandora, a mare by Royal Scotchman. "When she won her first start and then her second I thought how good it was. But then she never won another race." Then, he came up with the smart pacer Single Cee, by Crockett and from the same family as Homin Hosed, who won nine before going to the States.
With Homin Hosed, Macey has seldom had much to worry about. He had a little problem with a corn after Kaikoura but it was hardly worth a mention. If there was an issue, it might have been bringing Homin Hosed to the hard racing trim Macey wanted. Working at home, without the choice of companions a big stable can offer, Macey had to take what he could get. "He's a lazy horse at home and needed that run at Kaikoura. He's so tough, and he just relaxes," he said.
Homin Hosed will now embark on assignments equally challenging. He will race in the Miracle Mile if invited - "We will accept an invitation although he's not really a miler" - and then to Melbourne for the Inter-Dominions.
In Macey's care at home are a 2-year-old half-sister to Homin Hosed by Sundon, a yearling half-sister by Il Vicolo, and Miss Piggy is booked to In The Pocket this season.
Thrilled with the support of his local community, Macey acknowledged this by using the colours of Waikato on his pacer's breastplate. He also knows the value of sponsors. One of the first to shake his hand on winning the Cup was George Calvert, who sponsored the Easter Cup Homin Hosed won at Addington on his last trip. "He wrote me a great letter after it. He's one of the best," said Calvert as he congratulated Macey.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in the HR Weekly
YEAR: 2000
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| George Calvert congratulates Todd Mitchell |
Young Cambridge reinsman Todd Mitchell is Addington's un-disputed Cup's King after winning his third Group One on the course in the past year. Mitchell, a fine advertisement for harness racing with not only his enthusiasm, won last year's Easter and New Zealand Cups with Homin Hosed, and will more than likely get the chance to repeat that double with this year's $100,000 George Calvert Cleaning Easter Cup winner Fact Non Verba.
Mitchell could have had a difficult decision to make in November, but Homin Hosed will not be around after a recent diagnosis for a foot problem which put him in a paddock for three months and on the sideline for at least six. Facta Non Verba also has a foot problem, but has for some time and it is unlikely to stop him in the near future. Rather he is now likely to head to Brisbane for features such as the Winter Cup. Facta Non Verba's problem is akin to a quarter crack and while he was quite sore last week, it is not as serious.
The Tuapeka Knight gelding, who has been staying with Nigel McGrath in recent weeks, had a wedge fitted to the heel of the foot and while not 100% last Saturday and feeling it on the home turn, he was much happier than the previous week. "The sting being out of the track helped a lot," said Mitchell.
The 5-year-old has certainly come a long way in a short time since he began Mitchell's association with trainers Mike Berger and Warren Rich by winning his debut at Cambridge at odds of 34 to one 22 months ago, 33 starts, 11 wins, 16 placings and $148,325 to be precise. "There didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary about him then," said Mitchell.
Facta Non Verba, impressive in his Addington debut earlier this month, obviously has the equipment now to be a factor in November. From barrier one, he began best and Mitchell made race favourite The Tough Nut work overtime for the lead - a tactic which ultimately may well have decided the outcome. With the first mile passed in a leisurely 2:08 and the pace poured on from the 800m, those beyond the leading division had no chance. Happy Asset, not happy with the tempo and up to sit in the open from 1500m, was brave, but Facta Non Verba used his speed and the passing lane to score by a length in 4:08.2, the slowest Easter Cup since Microscopic's 4:10.1 in 1989. Under Cover Lover, after pulling for much of the race, ripped into her work in fine style late in the piece to shade The Tough Nut for third.
Credit: Frank Marrion writing in HRWeekly 27Apr00
YEAR: 2002
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'The Wizard' alias Todd Mitchell, was at his spell binding best behind Gracious Knight at Addington last Saturday night. He mesmerised rival drivers with a heady brew of front-running tactics. There were signs a lap out when Gracious Knight had not been questioned for the lead that some would be caught out, and near the 600m Mitchell knew it. He didn't think there was a horse close enough who could give him a start and turn in a better final quarter. "I was just jogging turning for home," he said.
By this stage, the stayers who had been hoping for 4:00, or content with 4:02 for the 3200n were out of the hunt. Gracious Knight was getting it over in a tick under 4:07, and it was Mitchell's clever dictation of the pace that saw him win it without a fight. He was more than two lengths ahead of Pic Me Pockets who came out of the pack strongly, and Panky's Pacer did the same to run third.
It was Mitchell's third Easter Cup win in four years, following that of Facta Non Verba last year and Homin Hosed two years before that. Facta Non Verba, a stablemate of the winner's, ran a sterling race for fifth after missing the start by at least six lengths but probably much more. "We were standing just three or four seconds too long, waiting for Annie's Boy," said driver Robbie Holmes.
Gracious Knight is a son of Tuapeka Knight, and now the winner of 10 races from just 23 starts. His record is more compelling because his placings include seconds in the Messenger behind Tupelo Rose and third to Holmes D G in the Auckland Cup. It has not been plain sailing for Warren Rich, who trains in partnership with Mike Berger. Gracious Knight is one of 20 Rich has in work at Pukekohe, and Berger has as many at Morrinsville. Rich said Gracious Knight took a while to gait up, but this season he has had muscular problems that Syd Weatherly treated for a start and now Clare McGowan is handling it. "She comes once every two weeks on average," he said, "and he does swimming as well."
Rich who was born in Christchurch and worked for Mike Nicholas, Barry Purdon, Jeff Crouth and Brian Hughes before partnering Berger, said the Auckland Cup was not originally in the plan but the Easter Cup at Addington always was. "The Auckland Cup seemed to make all the difference to him. It gave him a lift round the stables and in his trackwork," he said. Rich said that 95% of his stable, including Gracious Knight, is owned by the Happy Valley Syndicate. There are three in Hong Kong, and two in New Zealand, one of them being Jacko Shiu, whose acceptance speech of the George Calvert trophy was more memorable than the race itself. It was a humble, gratifying response that brought favourable comment from every quarter. And he has more good prospects ahead. Rich says the syndicate has a 3-year-old half-sister by Road Machine to Graciuos Knight that "I like very much."
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 04Apr02
YEAR: 2002
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| The Happy Valley Synd & Todd Mitchell |
The history of the Canterbury Draught NZ Cup took a twist of its own with a double quinella at Addington.
Who would have suspected that Tuapeka Knight, once a brilliant juvenile, would sire not only the winner but the second horse too. And by a strange coincidence both horses are prepared by the same trainers.
The winner, with a devastating sprint, was Gracious Knight, driven by 'The Wizard', Todd Mitchell. He overpowered his stablemate Facta Non Verba, who appeared to have done enough to win the race when he slipped clear by more than two lenghts on the corner.
He had set the pace from the 2000m, battling into the teeth of a cold southerly. Meantime, Gracious Knight was hiding with cover at the back. Mitchell was gambling on one killer-blow at the end, hoping there would be little resistance when Gracious Knight produced his dynamic last furlong burst. There was clear evidence that Mitchell still had a handful of horse near the 500m, and he knew Facta Non Verba would have his work cut out after what he had done.
"It was a bit tight at the start when Young Rufus broke, but we got through alright," said Mitchell. "I was in two minds whether to come out when Anthony went up with Young Rufus, and I was a bit lucky later when Franco Heir was pushed out down the back. He still paced a bit funny in patches, and was even a bit hitchy round the last bend." he said.
Mitchell praised the dedication and ability of Warren Rich, a young man of only 29 who trains the horse in partnership with Mike Berger. "It's great for Warren," said Mitchell. "He set him for this. He never says anything much, but after he worked on Saturday he told me he was spot on. And the last four hundred metres of a race is always the best for him." he said.
Mitchell has a wonderful knack of being associated with great horses who win big races, notably the NZ Cup three years ago with Homin Hosed - who nearly won it again for him last year - more recently Superstars winner, Just An Excuse, and Easter Cups with Facta Non Verba and Gracious Knight.
Facta Non Verba, who won the Easter Cup as a five year old, failed to win a race in a light NZ campaign at six and returned to win all three races at Addington last season, gave a generous showing in front. His beginning was sharp enough to have him third behind Pocket Me and Stars And Stripes after 400m, and then he was taken up by Robbie Holmes to lead from the 2000m. Ken Barron took Stars And Stripes to sit parked at the 1600m. He got cover soon after from Yulestar, but general movement after that forced him into a situation of near hopelessness by the time they turned in. He ran fifth, two places behind Holmes D G, who made a big run forward with Young Rufus, and Shorty's Girl, who ran a cheeky race and finished with will over the last 250m.
While the result was a rare siring quinella in the race, it was not the first but maybe the second. In 1928, the brothers Peter Bingen and Great Bingen, by Nelson Bingen from Berthabell, ran first and second, with half a length between them. They were not trained by the same trainer.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HR Weekly
YEAR: 2003
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| The successful training and driving team |
On Tuesday, Robert Mitchell carried the cup he should have held in 1975. Just An Excuse brought the Canterbury Draught Centennial New Zealand Trotting Cup to him with the stamp of the new enforcer.
Had he been a truly confident man, rather than the restrained man that he is, Mitchell could well have began his trip to the presentation area after 600 metres of the race, because Just An Excuse had the lead from that far out, and a position of power.
He didn’t, of course, but the nail was in the coffin for many of them at that point – and Mitchell probably knew it. If he had anything to worry about, it was the start. But Just An Excuse made a flier and was on the journey quicker than most of them.
“He was the last to come up and stepped away third,” said winning driver, Todd Mitchell. “There was plenty of room outside Elsu, and Mark Purdon (driving Jack Cade) didn’t make it too hard for us to get past him,” he said.
Besides Jack Cade, Falcon Rise, Jagged Account and Elsu all slipped into good positions. Elsu moved again near the 1800m when Young Rufus rolled forward, and the next move came from Anthony Butt, near the 1300m, with Cool Hand Luke, and the last of any note came from Mister D G.
None of them were serious enough to force Todd to click the pacemaker up, and he must have had “this is for you, Dad”, well in his thoughts as he cruised past the 600m and then put the foot down. Cool Hand Luke did his best to level, and may have done so for a few strides.
Elsu then emerged, wider out, on a better run, and Jack Cade gradually closed along the marker line. But as gallant as they were, Just An Excuse always had them covered, and appeared to win with more authority than a long neck, which is how close Elsu got.
There was a moment of panic at the end when the siren went, which coincided by a visit to the stewards’ room by Purdon. It concerned some movement by Just An Excuse into the passing lane, but nothing came of it, and the occasion never lost stride.
There could also have been a slight panic at the start, when a streaker took off down Queen’s Drive, in front of the main stand. His timing was awful because starter Jack Mulcay had them almost in line. Racing Secretary Tony Lye was aware of some mischief, but not knowing what it was, suggested that Mulcay should hold them while it was sorted out. As it happened, it was over in a flash, and the field was sent away.
Purdon said Jack Cade had worked a bit to get the lead early, from Falcon Rise, and then he had the task of running past the pacemaker on a 26 final quarter. “Just An Excuse may have come in a little, but he came straight back out,” he said. Todd admitted that he was surprised to find the lead, certainly as soon as he did.
“I didn’t think we’d settle handy, and it was at the back of my mind to let something go,” he said. Just An Excuse, a first-season son of Nevele R stallion Live Or Die, is raced by Ollie and Irene Haines who bred him from their Smooth Fella mare, My Excuse.
Todd recalled that he did the Haines' a favour when the horse was a late 3-year-old. “Andrew Neal came up and said he was interested in buying him. I said he taps a knee a bit, and it didn’t go any further. It’s the best advice I’ve ever given.”
Todd has now driven in the New Zealand Cup five times for three wins – the others were Homin Hosed and Gracious Knight – and a second. The race took 4.05.7 which was predictably slow once the favourites had control. “Once that happened it was all over for us,” said Peter Ferguson, the driver of Falcon Rise.
“He needed the pace on from the start, and it didn’t go like that.” Was anyone unlucky? Not that we could see, but Sly Flyin did get home well from five-deep on the fence at the 600m, and Jagged Account also ran home smartly.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in the HR Weekly
YEAR: 2004
 |
| Steven Reid, Baileys Dream & Todd Mitchell |
He did so with a remarkable effort in which he twice fought off the attempts of Advance Attack to lead. Advance Attack was on the back foot and tiring on the corner, passed by his stablemate Mighty Cullen. Baileys Dream kept rolling and extended his lead down the straight to win in the manner of something special.
"He beat Winforu in a workout at Pukekohe before he came down here," said driver Todd Mitchell. "I gave him two taps on the corner and he kicked again. He is the type of horse who can sustain his speed for a long time," he said.
Baileys Dream is a first-season son of the Woodland Stud-based stallion Dream Away, by Artsplace, and cost Robert Fumularo $40,000 as a yearling. Bought for him by leading trainer Steven Reid, Baileys Dream is a half-brother to Cup class mare Black Eyed Bailey. They are from the Smooth Fella mare Black Eyed Susan, who went five years without a foal between leaving OK Bailey in 1996 and Baileys Dream. She is also the dam of a yearling colt by Christian Cullen and was served last season by Pacific Rocket.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 12May04
YEAR: 2004
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| The cover of the Weekly says it all ! |
Cup Day was a cocktail of triumph and tragedy for Ollie and Irene Haines at Addington on Tuesday. Minutes after watching Just An Excuse give Elsu a repeat beating in the Canterbury Draught New Zealand Cup, the Haines’s learned their good friend Graham Higgins had died in the stand nearby.
Higgins was a member of the Cambridge Harness Racing Club, President of the club from 1986 to 1989, and was part of the support team behind Just An Excuse. Ollie, visibly shaken by the death of his old friend, took some consolation on hearing that he'd died calling out ‘Go Mitch’.
It was all part of a turbulent ride the Haines’s have had since winning the New Zealand Cup with Just An Excuse last year when he was a warm favourite. Through one reason and another, Just An Excuse had fallen from favour, and Ollie sat on the sidelines as trainer Robert Mitchell used all his professional skills to put the jigsaw back in place.
The time he spent on the horse was unbelievable. “He has virtually lived with the horse for the past six weeks. “Back and forth to vets, tooth men and farriers. “I’m sure if he’d been in a big stable he wouldn’t be here now,” he said. There was a chewing problem that some attention to his teeth fixed. There was a jarring up problem to his club foot that some special cushioning to his sole fixed. And then there was the abortive mission to Ashburton, which nearly unfixed their whole campaign.
“We were gutted after Ashburton,” said Haines. “It didn’t seem fair; we wanted a rewind. “It wasn’t the fact we didn’t win there, but the fact he didn’t take any part in it.” But Haines didn’t lose faith in Mitchell, nor in the horse. He chided the media for doing so. “I don’t know why you fellas wrote him off,” he said.
Ironically, the Haines’s had been associated with the Butcher stable for 13 years, before Mitchell was given the horse after he’d been tried by Cambridge trainer, Brent Donnelly. The Haines’s had dozens of horses at the time, but five years ago Ollie stuck to a principle and culled more than 30. One of those he couldn’t quit was My Excuse, a Smooth Fella mare and her Live Or Die colt foal.
The foal was Just An Excuse and the culling was successful, because only My Excuse and a Camtastic-Another Excuse 3-year-old remains. Ollie still takes time to bless his Addington luck.
“I’ve only raced two horses here, and they’ve won five Group races.
Just An Excuse has won two Cups and the Superstars, and Smooth Performer won the Oaks and the DB Fillies Final,” he said. And while Todd calls Addington his second home, the Haines’s don’t mind the place either. They could, however, do without the emotion and high drama that came with their visit this time.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in the HR Weekly
YEAR: 2004
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| Just An Excuse on the way to victory |
They said he couldn't do it. No way, not on his chequered preparation. And not with a rampant Elsu and race-hardened Mister D G staring him down as he stood sanwiched between them at the start. Nope. Almost unbelievably, Just An Excuse somehow slipped from favour from last week's Canterbury Draught NZ Trotting Cup...dropped by some of the very same people that basked in his glory just 12 short months ago.
They were wrong. Three days later it happened all over again. In spite of his emphatic Cup victory, Just An Excuse still had his doubters when he stepped onto Addington for the $100,000 Lindauer NZ Free-For-All. There were those that thought he couldn't possibly sit outside a pacemaker like Mister D G and beat him - which was how most pre-race calculations saw the event unfolding. But they were wrong again. Whatever excuses these particular people came up with for the two "biggies" over Cup week, in the end they were just that - excuses; Just An Excuse proved that you can never underestimate the ability of a good horse to lift when it matters most. Especially a great one.
Unlike most, Just An Excuse's driver Todd Mitchell didn't have a pre-race script for how he was going to attack the Free-For-All. "A 'Plan A'? No. If you head out onto the track with one of those, usually you end up looking for a 'Plan B'," Mitchell said. "Once Mister D G went to the lead I didn't want him to get too far in front; when I saw Mark and Young Rufus coming, it was time to go." Just An Excuse lobbed up alondside Mister D G as the field started the last lap, and when the positions were unchanged turning for home the pair set down to a titanic home straight struggle. "I was quite happy to sit out there, he's won most of his races sitting parked," Mitchell continued. "In fact, he's probably better sitting parked than anything. He is good coming from behind though, because at the trials he's run quarters in twenty-six and just cruised them. We still haven't seen him have to do that yet."
Just An Excuse is now back at home in Raglan and enjoying a couple of days off after losing a bit of weight and tucking up a bit more than normal from his trip. For trainer Robert Mitchell, this has given him the chance to reflect on what has been a truly magnificent Cup carnival. "Never in a hundred years did I think that we'd get to live that feeling all over again," he says, in reference to Just An Excuse's back-to-back Cup victories. "Last year it was pretty much plain sailing leading into the Cup, but this time we've had to work really hard. We just had so many little problems, what with him jarring up and then not eating, and you couldn't call Ashburton a run. It was just a case of working our way through it. So I suppose this year's Cup is more special to me. And then to top it off by winning the Free-For-All, well, that is just something else again. If you count the Cup Trial 'Lordie's' had three good runs in the space of nine days, which really says a lot for the horse because he showed his true grit after such a chequered preparation."
Mitchell says he and the horse's owners still have to decide where they'll head next with the star Live Or Die pacer, with the choices coming down to either the Victoria Cup in Melbourne on December 18, or the Auckland Cup at Alexandra Park on New Year's Eve.
Just An Excuse is the first horse for six years to capture the highly sought after NZ Cup/ NZ Free-For-All double, and the 27th horse to achieve the feat since it was first done in 1918 by Author Dillon. The others were Peter Bingen (1928), Harold Logan (31), Red Shadow (33), Indianapolis (35), Josedale Grattan (41), Highland Fling (48), Johnny Globe (54), Lookaway (57), False Step (60), Lordship (62), Cardigan Bay (63), Robalan (74), Lunar Chance (75), Trusty Scott (78), Lord Module (79), Hands Down (80), Armalight (81), Bonnie's Chance (82), Master Mood (86), Christopher Vance (91), Blossom Lady (92), Chokin (93), Bee Bee Cee (94), Il Vicolo (95) and Christian Cullen (98).
Credit: John Robinson writing in NZHR Weekly
YEAR: 2005
For a horse with 'bad' written all over him, Bad Leroy certainly went against his namesake by winning the $40,000 PGG Southern Graduate at Addington on Friday night.
Driven patiently by Todd Mitchell, Bad Leroy settled back early in the race allowing the favourite Analyst take over control easily from barrier two. In a race that saw many changes in face, the southern visitor Beaudine Terminator zipped around the field to take over in the hands of Tony Herlihy – only to hand up meters later to the determined challenge from The Reckoning and Robbie Holmes.
The pace proving too hot for some of the starters, there looked to be only four horses with a chance approaching the home turn. The Reckoning was running strong out in front, Bad Leroy was still there after sitting parked for the last lap and Analyst was poised and ready to pounce behind them. Easily hitting the front Bad Leroy looked to have the race sewn up with 200m left, however a gallant Racy Rocket weaved through the field from near the rear of the field to zip within a head of the winner at the line. Holding on strongly to run third was the Sapling Stakes runner up The Reckoning. The favourite Analyst ran fourth 1 ½ lengths from the winner.
Bad Leroy is a son of Badlands Hanover out of Royal Chanel and is trained by Steven Reid of Pukekohe. His lifetime record now stands at 7 starts for 2 wins, 3 placings for a bankroll of $35,741. His regular driver Todd Mitchell was pleased with the victory, and feels the horse is a strong enough chance to make his presence felt at this week's meeting.
Credit: Harness Racing NZ
YEAR: 2006
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| Monkey King (Todd Mitchell) beating Ambro The Thug |
Monkey King's performance to win on Friday night was nothing short of sensational, because he was last of the nine-horse bunch and being chirped up as he sped past the 600m mark. Driver Todd Mitchell waited, and waited, and it wasn't until Monkey King was fully around the home turn and straightened before his pilot pushed the turbo button. The response was electrifying, and Monkey King devoured metre after metre in time to catch Ambro The Thug just short of the post. His time for the 1950m event was a super 2:22.2 in the cool conditions, representing a mile rate of 1:57.3, and considering the last half was run in 58.1 off the front Monkey King must have covered his final stanza in close to 56!
Mitchell paid the Sands A Flyin gelding the ultimate compliment when he returned to the stabling area...
"For sheer speed, he's the quickest horse I have ever driven," Mitchell said. "He doesn't wear plugs or nothing. He's just that bloody relaxed, he doesn't really do anything until you pull him into the clear and ask him to go. They had gone that hard early tonight that I knew they had to come back to us - I still didn't think he could win from where he was though. And cripes, when I pulled him out at the top of the straight he nearly went into a gallop because he was going that fast. Bailey hasn't got speed like him."
Monkey King has won five of his nine starts thus far, and Friday was a welcome return to the winner's circle for a horse whose finishing burst is now firmly entrenched as his trademark. He did the same thing on debut back in October when runing third, making up a tonne of ground behind Waipipi Express, then won four in a row, and in the outing prior to last week he took lengths off Awesome Armbro to run second after giving that rival a mighty head start turning for home and pacing his last half in 55.2.
Monkey King's only other two outings resulted in an inglorious 'last of 13' when he failed to score up behind the mobile at Alexandra Park at the start of this month, and prior to that he ran fourth during what was a horror trip across the Tasman in January. "Over in Aussie he was a dead horse all week," Mitchell said. "We had a lot of trouble with him tying up in the muscles, and he just didn't feel like himself at any stage. It has taken a month to get him right, probably even longer."
Monkey King is trained by Steven Reid, and his victory on Friday capped a stellar night for the Pukekohe stable. Reid trained the winners of the first two races at Alexandra Park - La Bella Mafia and Man On Mars - and in Mitchell's absence he made a rare appearence in the sulky and even drove the first of those himself.
In charge of the team in Christchurch last week was Reid's right-hand-man Brendon Hill, and he took a lot of care when ungearing a very fractious Monkey King after the Flying Stakes victory. Asked if the 3-year-old was always like that, Hill replied "he is when he is right. When they are as good as him it's the sort of thing you don't mind putting up with though," Hill said. "It's just him. He's like Bailey - he's got heaps of character. And speed? He's got enough of it to make you fall out of the back of the cart."
Now that the dust has settled on the Flying Stakes, the focus switches to this week's big one for the 3-year-olds - the NZ Derby. There is a glint in Mitchell's eye as he thinks about his prospects with Monkey King, and quite rightly so too, because the horse is right at the top of his game again and he proved last week tha he could win from anywhere.
As much as Mitchell seems to have a mortgage on the biggest of Addington's feature races, the NZ Cup, having won four of the last seven, a NZ Derby winning drive is something that has eluded the talented Waikato reinsman so far. And that is despite fashioning a good record in the Flying Stakes too; Mitchell won the race in 2003 with Allstar Blue Jean, again last year with Bailey's Dream, and now has a 'three from the last four' record thanks to Monkey King. "I pulled the wrong rein with Allstar Blue Jean, and should have gone earlier; I ran sixth," Mitchell lamented. "Then Bailey got run down by Badlands Bute last year. It would be nice to win the Derby with Monkey King, because he's not paid up for anything else like the Sales Series or Sires' Stakes. He never showed enough early on."
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 29Mar06
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