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RACING HISTORY

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

After his game second placing behind Elsu in the InterDominon Grand Final, Sly Flyin had everything in his favour to take out the $30,000 Group 2 Frucor Beverages Free-For-All on Friday night.

Starting a warm favourite, Sly Flyin and Tony Herlihy proved that patience is a virtue in the running. As predicted the early speed came from Jagged Account (barrier 2) and Sly Flyin (barrier 4), Jagged Account held out the early lead from the inside draw leaving Sly Flyin sitting parked. After 800m Herlihy decided to release the brakes on the fav, zooming to the lead only to be headed off soon after by Young Rufus - thus giving Sly Flyin a dream trip in the trail. Entering the home straight Sly Flyin zipped past the tiring Young Rufus and skipped home to win easily by a length from a game Hexus and a brave Bobs Blue Boy who sat parked for the last portion of the race.

Sly Flyin ran the 2600m in 3:13.7, the 800m in 58.3 and the 400m in 28.3. Remarkably it was his 17th win from 48 starts and has boosted his earnings to over $500,000. The performance now puts Sly Flyin as an early favourite for next week's Easter Cup.

Credit: Harness Racing NZ

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Michael Taranto & Bruce Hutton

Michael Taranto's faith in the NZ breeding industry was vindicated when Rhythm Of The Night won him the $70,000 PGG NZ Yearling Sales Series Trot at Addington last Friday night.

Taranto hails from Hallam in Central Melbourne, where he manages the aluminium company Seelite Windows & Doors. He started the business with his father Vin in the early 1980's, and then took over the reins himself when Vin retired nine years ago. "It's booming," Taranto said, proudly. "There were three of us when it started, and now we employ fifty people. It's the sort of job which gives me the time and money to get involved in harness racing."

Taranto's dedication to his work almost cost him the chance to even be on-course at Addington last Friday. He was booked on a 9:00am flight that morning but had to re-schedule, even though he had been at the office since 3:00am. "Being the end of the month I had to finish all the invoicing and get everthing done before I flew out. It soon became clear that I wasn't going to make my flight though, and I was lucky enough to be able to change my ticket and finally get on a plane at eleven."

Taranto arrived at Christchurch just hours before Rhythm Of The Night's event, and the Sundon gelding that he races in partnership with trainer Bruce Hutton made the hectic rush all worthwhile by showing great tenacity to wear down the pacemaking Power In Motion near the line. "I'm a walking billboard for the New Zealand breeding industry, believe me," Taranto said afterwards. "The quality of your stock at the yearling sales here is far superior to anything back home. Plus, you have got such lush paddocks; we have had no rain in Melbourne for three years - we have to install tanks and pump the water in, that is very hard on young horses."

Taranto met Hutton a couple of years ago when buying 'tried' horses, and their friendship has grown to the point today where he has now got eight or nine in-foal mares and another dozen or more yearlings and racehorses stabled at Hutton's property. The numbers are similar back home in Melbourne, where his horese are all trained by Matthew Garth. "You couldn't find a more hard-working or honest toiler," Taranto said, praising Hutton. "He may not have the same flamboyance as other trainers, but as a horseman he will do me every time. My involvement in horses is still pretty much in it's infancy, but this is what we do it for.

Taranto is also involved in the administration of harness racing as well, being Vice-President of the Cranbourne HRC, Chairman of the Breeders' Crown committee, and a member of Harness Racing Victoria's stategic planning committee for 'V3'.




Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 6Apr05

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Life Of Luxury holds out Saxon Lass

Life Of Luxury knocked the favourites off after starting from a second-line draw in the $130,000 Pyne Gould Guinness NZ Yearling Sales Fillies Pace at Addington last Friday night.

She was aided by an astute piece of calculated driving by Mark Jones, which allowed her to win with the authority in which she did. Attsa Nice, the early leader, tracked the winner for the last lap, and had her chance to close the gap in the straight but this didn't happen. She was unable to get past Saxon Lass, a Make A Deal filly who had no luck and missed cover yet lasted pluckily for a clear second. Star of The Ball was put out of commission when she galloped in tight quarters when on the move from the back near the 500 metres.

Life Of Luxury was a cheapie at the Premier Sale two years ago, selected by Malcolm Gillies for just $9000. Gillies has had a long association with the Grice brothers, Bevan and Keith, and he was interested as soon as he saw she traced back to Coo Doo, and such big winners as Barbara Del, Anzus, Stereo Light, Palestine, Columnist and Finest Hour. "She had a Logan Derby nose. There was 'Grice' written all over her," he said. His interest was complete when he saw she was by Live Or Die, sire of Tidal Franco, a big winner he bought at the sales the previous year. "Then we went back last year and bought her brother, Grice, for $26,000, and he has qualified."

Joining Gillies in the ownership are his wife Diana, Andrew Grant, Colleen Breen, Mary Corboy, of Hamilton, Ian Watson and his mother, Margaret. "The common thread was all of us being involved with Dean's stable," he said. Life Of Luxury is trained at Ladbrooks by Dean Taylor, whose other stable star at present is Waipawa Lad, also by Live Or Die. "I have to say the sire has been good to us," he said. Lavish Franco is a Soky's Atom mare from Lady Barbara, by Lordship. She was bred by Spreydon Lodge, and is owned by Roydon Lodge Stud Ltd, the breeders of Life Of Luxury.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 23Feb05

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Vicki Purdon & Advance Attack

Advance Attack, a full brother to Courage Under Fire, won the race by half a neck from Ewie Duncan, with a further five and a half lengths to Here Lies a Dream.

Owned by the Estate of J H Seaton, Advance Attack was trained and driven by Mark Purdon.

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Lady Toddy lasts to beat Alta Serena

Lady Toddy was all but written off when she drew the cruel number nine marble in the $100,000 NZ Standardbred Breeders' Stakes sprint at Addington last Friday night.

It was a fair call, for neither of the two choices available to trainer Ken Barron made any appeal. One was to ease and go back and hope to hook a ride in the three-wide train over the last lap, or take the enormously risky gamble of pressing on from the start and slip in with cover. This wasn't going to be a drive for the faint-hearted, and Barron knew it and said it. "I told Rodney (O'Neill, the stable foreman) that I couldn't go back if I wanted a fair chance of winning."

Not many try this trick, and those who do it are usually remembered for going on a perilous journey that ends badly. Barron is not one of them. Within 400 metres, Barron had snuggled in to trail Tibetan Lass, on the outer. Coburg held the front, Imagine That had gone three-deep, favourites Armbro Innocence and Alta Serena had taken their only choice and stayed back, and Barron pinched himself to see if it was true.

Even with 1000 metres to run, the back markers had hardly moved, leaving Lady Toddy with a trip she has seldom had this season. She stayed under cover until just before the turn and, in her usual determined style, came out hard and strong. At one stage, halfway down the straight, she might have got a length on the other chances, and while that may have painted a pretty picture then, it started to look less than enough 50 metres out.

Wide on the track Alta Serena started to carve the margin back, slowly at first but with mighty chunks near the end. The post came just soon enough for Lady Toddy. Had it been a few metres more this may not have been the case, Alta Serena's effort was huge, Lady Toddy has long been an Addington favourite and deserved her win.



Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 9Feb05

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Allegro Agitato wins the FFA from Play On, Major Decision & Some Direction

Justin Smith and Craig Thornley know that Ricky May is the form runner of the NZ Cup carnival. They also know he is on a good thing to add the Group 1 trot to his Group 1 Pace.

May won the NZ Cup with Mainland Banner last week and is cheerily placed with Allegro Agitato to win Friday Night's $100,000 Dominion Handicap. The Sundon mare is likely to be favourite after leading throughout and holding off Play On and the trailing Major Decision in the $50,000 NZ Free-For-All on Show Day.

Smith finished fourth in the race with Some Direction, less than a length and a half from Allegro Agitato, and Thornley ran second with Play On who closed quickly. "She had no luck whatsoever," said Smith. "She is racing as good as ever, but her form doesn't show it. The rest of them are all that even," he said.

Thornley thinks trainer Peter Lamb has Play On ready to strike again. "He feels just like he did before he won the Inter-Dominion Grand Final," he said.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 16Nov05

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Toomuch To Do & Blair Orange

There are more rich pickings ahead for the West Melton stablemates Toomuch To Do and Ado's Invasion. Only Prince Sundon separated them from running the quinella in the $30,000 Giannis Pita Bread Canterbury Park Trotting Cup at Addington last Friday night.

Driver Blair Orange said Toomuch To Do was "very stiff" the week before when 10th to Diedre Don, and Ado's Invasion was on the way up after an improver's fifth in the same race. Both are seasoned campaigners, and both have won 11 races, although Toomuch To Do is still behind in stakes. "She is better in her gait this season," said trainer Mike Austin, which is exactly what John Hay is saying about Prince Sundon, who is eight and the same age.

Austin said Toomuch To Do is "flat beating a maiden" in her work at home, but a huge performance to win a heat of the Inter-Dominions last season showed she is up to the best on her day. "She drew fifteen in the Grand Final," said Austin, who added that she has just kept getting better each season.

Ado's Invasion didn't start racing until he was four, missed much of last season because of a tendon injury, and has never been any great shakes over two miles. "That is the best he has gone," said Austin


Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 19Oct 05

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Pay Me Christian beating Alta Sirocco

Within a week or two, classy stablemates Pay Me Christian and Alta Sirocco will be settled in new quarters. Along with Nick Off Holme and other members of Paul Kerr's team, they are on the move fron West Melton to Marshlands, on the other side of Christchurch.

For the past 18 months, Kerr has been in residence at Preston Farm, where Robin Butt trains and his father-in-law Jack Litten did before that. Now it awaits the imminent arrival of the dozers and dump trucks that will turn it into a residential area.

Kerr will re-settle on the property of Wayne Higgs, where he says there is ample room for the two of them. "There are two lovely tracks and we both have our own barns. It is a training set-up designed for two stables, there is security and I'm looking forward to it," he said.

Kerr has another reason to consider the change so favourably. "We are only eight minutes from Spencer Park Beach. This is a great bonus. When I trained a Waikouaiti, I would train all the team on the beach between races, and I think the colts will benefit from that," he said.

This, and the near certainty of having the two favourites for the $150,000 NRM Sires' Stakes Final on Cup Day, gives Kerr a pretty exciting calendar. "It's certainly the best classic team I've had, but the racing team while we were at Waikouaiti got up to twenty," he said.

Pay Me Christian, who led throughout to beat Alta Sirocco by a neck in the ICE Bloodstock Rising Stars 3YO Championship, is off to Forbury Park this week to book his place for the final which would appear to be a formality. He will then have a breather before the Final. Alta Sirocco, who has won a heat of the Series, is already on his break and won't race again, outside of a trial, until the Final.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 12Oct05

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Tom (left) & Ossie Hickman with the Derby Trophy

If you live in Taimate and noticed that things are somewhat quiet around your neck of the woods last Friday night, there was a good reason for it. Because the way that a large crowd of people jumped to their feet and screamed Tozzie home in the NZ Trotting Derby at Addington, you would have thought that half the town was there.

Tozzie is raced by 77-year-old Tom Hickman and his nephew Ossie Hickman, hence the gelding's name. They both own large farms in Taimate, a township near Ward and about half an hour south of Blenheim which has been home to several branches of their family ever since their ancestors first settled there over a century ago.

'Large' would be a way to describe the support crew in attendance on Friday night too, because together with their wives Aileen and Mary, most of their 12 children and a host of other friends and relatives from both Taimate and Christchurch, there were 30-odd people in the birdcage to savour the victory. And boy had he done them all proud!

Tozzie started off the unruly in the 2600 metre mobile event and trainer/driver Pat O'Reilly took hold of him right from the start, so much so that the 3-year-old was still last and four lengths off the back of the bunch as they wheeled by the mile peg. Coming past the winning post with a lap to go Tozzie had begun his run three-wide, with cover, and then O'Reilly managed to nestle him in one place closer to the fence when George Castleton broke at the 700m mark; but it was only briefly, and with a handful of horse he sent him up three-wide again and challenging round the last turn. Tozzie surged to the front inside the last furlong, and even though Jazz Legend looked a threat late in the piece, at no stage did O'Reilly ask him for what was in the tank and they powered to the line strongly.

Just for good measure, and despite the cold and drizzly conditions, Tozzie had stopped the clock just three tenths of a second outside the national record. "This is just unbelievable," Tom said afterwards. "I have been racing horses with Pat for thirty years. We love to come to Addington, and we have always wanted to win here. And now to win a Group 1, well, it is just a bloody great thrill."

By Sundon, Tozzie is the first foal of Jacnnan, a Gee Whiz II mare that scored her only win from 14 attempts at the corresponding meeting at Addington seven years ago. That was Hickman's first winner at Addington, and Tozzie is his second. Jacnnan was out of Taimate Charm, who was by Noodlum out of Miss Charming, the resulting foal of Hickman's first Sales purchase - the Stormyway mare Stormy Star, who he bought in-foal to Prince Charming. Jacnnan was the only one of the aforementioned mares that ever qualified, but Tom has stayed loyal to the breed and all the horses he has ever raced belong to it. "It is a great buzz to have bred all the way through to get Tozzie," he said. "We always wanted a straight-out trotter. After putting Miss Charming to Noodlum to get Taimate Charm, we put her to Gee Whiz II to get Jacnnan and then Jacnnan to Sundon. We have got a 2-year-old full-sister to Tozzie at home, called Tozzie's Sister, and the next one out of Jacnnan is an Earl filly. And she is back in foal to Sundon again," he said.

Last Friday's victory was Tozzie's third on end. all three performances are in total contrast to his first campaign, back in January, when he had three goes in standing start races and broke every time. "You wouldn't know it but he is perfect at home - I can't fault him," O'Reilly said. "On raceday he trots away with them, but then he just tries to go too quick. He is a bugger for throwing his head up when the grit hits him in the face too, because he doesn't like it. But he will come out of those things. A month ago I had never even thought of the Derby. And I only threw him in that race a week ago just to see how he would go behind the mobile, and put him on the unruly."

So what has made the difference between Tozzie now, and Tozzie we saw at the start of the year? "I just put him on the float every time it went out the gate," O'Reilly answered. "He wasn't starting, but if we were off to the trials or the races he was on the float too. And I mucked around a bit with him at the trials - even when he went away with them I would keep him back in the field just to get him used to the grit."

Despite being loathe to put a label on horses and predict how far they will go, O'Reilly can't help but admit that Tozzie has got all sorts of potential. "He had natural ability from day one," he said. "He was very good-gaited and had a bit of quick speed too. But I am not a great believer in starting 2-year-old trotters, I don't care how good they are. He is not fool-proof yet either though. Like, he could just as easily go out there next start and break. But the thing about him is that he felt just so strong the other night, despite the start he gave them and what time they went. So to answer your question about how good he is...I don't know."

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 13Apr05

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

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