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RACING HISTORY

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2001 HIH INSURANCE NZ WELCOME STAKES

The old firm is back with another speed merchant; Negus and De Filippi. Another smart brown colt, not quite another Courage Under Fire, but the talk is something not far short of it.

While he may have lacked the swashbuckling brilliance of Courage Under Fire when he won the race three years ago, there was a clinical touch to the manner in which Sly Flyin despatched the field in the NZ Welcome Stakes. De Filippi is yet to say go: and by not doing so this may have flattered the efforts of All Hart and Franco Trubrooke who ran second and third.

Sly Flyin is not an easy horse to drive; and he is no easier to train. If he had his own way, he wouldn't train at all. He is a notoriously poor track-worker. "He wouldn't beat a maidener at home," said Negus. "That is why we have to take him to the trials each week, so he will do the work," he said. But the problems don't end there. He has the annoying habit of pulling a plate just about every time he gets off the float, and he did this when he arrived on the track before the race - and again when he got home. "I had to get Brian Wilson, the blacksmith, to re-plate him, and it's a worry when you have to do this just before the start," said Negus.

Once Negus has finished with him, the next one to worry about him is De Filippi. Said Negus: "There is always a fifty percent chance of him galloping in the score-up. He was just lucky the horse outside him galloped and gave him a bit more room on the gate. He gets a bit claustrophobic and over that first four hundred metres after the start he is still a risk. It is just that he wants to get on with it. He is more hyperactive than nervous," he said.

Sly Flyin was left a little wide early on, soon had cover on the outer, but De Filippi didn't stay there long. He was in front a round out, slowed the pace, and didn't ask for anything special to win the race in comfort. "Once in front, he is a hard horse to get past," he said. A colt by Sands A Flyin from a Soky's Atom mare, and raced by principal Negus client Greg Brodie, Sly Flyin may be gelded after the Sires' Stakes Final next month. Negus is near enough to deciding on this before he is put aside.

While there is speculation about the quality and potential of Sly Flyin, and the tendency to compare him with Courade Under Fire, Negus has his own opinion. "Courage Under Fire was a champion, and this one is a really, really good horse. He can run a half in 55, whereas Courage could do it in 54. I honestly think he is less than five lengths behind Courage Under Fire at the same stage. Sly Flyin is going to be a very good free-for-aller. But I might be wrong; he might do more."


Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 19Apr01

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2001 GEORGE CALVERT CLEANING EASTER CUP

There were plenty of reasons why Nicky Chilcott couldn't win the Easter Cup. Firstly, he representative was Disprove, a mere C6 pacer up against ten others who, between them, had won every major Cup that exists on the Australasian calendar. Secondly, Disprove had endured a horror trip south, being stranded on the wharf at Wellington after leaving Bulls at 4:30am on Wednesday morning, two days out from the race, and not arriving in Christchurch until 7:30pm that night. And lastly, Nicky didn't have anywhere near the same big-race experience as the Purdons, the Butts and the De Filippis; the biggest event she had ever won was the $25,000 Country Cups Championship with Disprove at Alexandra Park just a week earlier.

Nicky was a bit out of her league, wasn't she?

Definitely not. History will show that in the 2001 Easter Cup Disprove defied all the odds, giving her trainer the biggest thrill of her life. Despite an uncharacteristic break at the start, he and his under-rated driver David Butcher managed to secure the one-one over the last lap after moving around the field starting the last mile. From there they pounced and left everybody else to it, winning the two-mile event in a pedestrian 4:10.7 which was embarrassing for the sit-sprinters behind them.

"I will treasure this for ever," Nicky said afterwards, still sporting a glazed look of disbelief on her face. No-one probably deserved the victory more than her though, because while every trainer works hard to get their horses to the post, Nicky works twice as hard. "It is a tough industry to get ahead in whether you are male or female, but being a woman you sort of have to prove yourself that much more," she said. "It has it's positives and negatives though. Egos do come into it - some guys don't want their horses trained by a female - but then again there's the owners that prefer their horses having a woman's touch."

And there is the "huge hours" that seem to go hand in hand with the job. Nicky rises at 5:00am every morning, seven days a week, and at the end of the day when she has checked the horses, mucked out the boxes and done some bookwork, it's rarely before 11:00pm when she puts herself to bed again. This is a heck of a lot of dedication, especially from someone who has had to pick herself up and start again after breaking her back in a horrific race smash. "Some people only see the glamour side of harness racing," she says. "But it's hard, and there is not a lot of money in it. If I had have been working for the money I would have been out of the game a long time ago. No, I am in it for the love of the game. I am very passionate about my horses and I love them."

Nicky says she got the right break at the right time when first starting out, because a couple of friends wanted to race a horse and that is all the encouragement she needed. Waharoa put her on the map - she trained him for the last six of his 10 victories - and he was followed by Shredder, who won all but one of his 11 races in Nicky's tangerine and white silks. Yet to complete her fourth full season, Nicky has notched up 78 victories already, 22 of them in this term alone - all at an excellent UDR rating of .3876.

Placing variety at the top of her priority list, she strives to give her horses as much of it as possible, going from swimming one day to trackwork the next, roadwork on another occasion and even a ride under saddle at the end of the week. Nicky spends a lot of time at Raglan Beach, one hour's drive from where her horses are stabled out the back of the Cambridge Raceway, and they seem to thrive on it. So much so, that she has quickly gained a 'Warren Stapleton-like reputation for rejuvenating broken-down horses. "You are lucky in some respects, because when you get horses from other trainers you have got nothing to lose. It's very satisfying winning races with them though."

Nicky says there are so many people to thank for making her Easter Cup victory possible, including her long list of helpers, Disprove's owners Lou Newman and Tony Jack for their faith in her and their horse, Colin and Julie De Filippi for their hospitality, and David Butcher for yet another masterful drive. "I love driving, and drive most of mine, but some horses just suit certain drivers better and Disprove is one of those.

"Where a lot of horses I get are broken down or sore I have had none of these problems with him, touch wood, it has mainly been a head thing. It hasn't been easy.


Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 11Apr01

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2001 NEWSTALK ZB 3YO FLYING STAKES

Colin Baynes reckons he had half the Knapdale neighbour-hood at his place last Friday night. They crowded round his television set to watch Country Ways contest the Newstalk ZB 3YO Flying Stakes, and by nine o'clock they had plenty to cheer about after the Camtastic gelding downed the guns in his first Addington test.

Country Ways has got another test this Saturday night - the Smokefree NZ Derby - but this time his proud owner and trainer will be there in person to see him race. "I have never had a runner in the Derby we don't normally push our younger horses," Barnes says. "But I suppose if you are not in, you can't win."

This philosophical attitude stems from the fact the Baynes has, finally, got a 3-year-old good enough to be 'in' a race like the Derby. Clancy, Debbie's Boy, Gentle Miss and Sapper, who won the Supremacy Stakes, have all been good 3-year-olds that Baynes has owned and trained, but in fact the southern region has not been that happy a hunting ground for him. "We have had our views on how good Country Ways is all along, and on Friday he went out there and showed us what he could do with the absence of bad luck."

Baynes was referring to his pacer's two previous outings, at Invercargill and Winton, where he had finished second and fourth respectively. "It is not that he'd had bad luck, just that he had not had much good luck on those occasions," he said. "He was not disgraced the day he finished second, because he did a lot of work to loop the field and he was pushed around on a track which is not very big. He got beaten by a horse that had a better trip on the day and I was quite happy with his performance. "Then he finished fourth in the Supremacy Stakes last week, when they sprinted home in something like 56 seconds off the front. As Colin (De Filippi) put it, even if you make a yard on the leaders under those conditions you are doing well." This brought an end to the five-race winning streak Country Ways had achieved in the space of three months, and Baynes was actually pleased about it. "He'd had so little experience before winning those races. Even the best get beaten, so the sooner we got that out of the road the better."

Swaying Baynes and his training partner Robin Swain's decision to send Country Ways north was a phone call from the Club, mentioning that they were short on numbers. So Baynes himself rang Colin De Filippi, a man he had known for a long time and always respected, and asked if he would mind looking after a boarder for a couple of weeks. "Robin and I have got a team of our own to work; you can't run all over the country and still look after the ones at home," he said, adding that his talented pacer's condition and fitness is due entirely to Swain's care of and attention to the horse.

"Country Ways left here at 8.30am Tuesday morning and arrived at Colin and Julie's at 4.30pm that afternoon. We didn't know how he would go being away from home for the first time, but Colin rang us on Thursday saying he had settled in well and we were tickled pink." Regardless of the result this Saturday night, Country Ways will be turned out for a spell afterwards.

Victory in the NZ Derby would be another feather in the cap of his owner though, a man who has given more than his fair share to the sport. Now 79 and still "sound of wind and limb," Baynes spent 17 years on the Conference between the late 1970s and early 1990s and thoroughly enjoyed the administration side of harness racing. He doesn't miss a meeting close to home, and still gets in the cart to jog the team too. In short, he loves the game, and he admits it proudly. "I can remember back in the early thirties, rushing home from Brydone Primary School as fast as I could (in bare feet) to spread the newspaper out on the kitchen table and find out about the match racing between Harold Logan and Walla Walla. Harold Logan was New Zealand's champion at the time, and Walla Walla was the Aystralian champion. I was anxious to learn the result; Walla Walla won the first one, and Harold Logan won the next two."

As for Country Ways' chance in this weeks Derby, Baynes is remaining philosophical about that too. "The horse can't read the paper, so he doesn't know what he is up against - he goes out there and does what he has to. "He's a tough wee fella, and he is getting better every day."

FOOTNOTE: Country Ways is named after a tourist shop on the corner of Gloucester and Colombo Streets in Christchurch, which is owned by Baynes and managed by his daughter Donna.



Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 11Apr01

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

2001 CADUCEUS CLUB OF CANTY NZ STANDARDBRED BREEDERS STAKES

Colin De Filippi had been thinking about it all week. Thinking about how he was going to turn the tables on Flight South. After all, he and his wife Julie had lined Kym's Girl up in the NZ Premier Mares Championship knowing she was at the top of her game; they didn't expect to win, but they did not expect her to get beaten the way she did either. Fully respecting that Kym's Girl only deserved second prize that night, De Filippi wanted a different result in the Caduceus Club of Canterbury NZ Standardbred Breeders Stakes.

The first part of the plan fell into place when Kym's Girl drew two and Flight South five, but he kept quiet about how he was going to play it on the night and even those closest to him did not know. In the end, history will show it to be just another classic 'CJ' drive. Flash Tactics and Ricky May speared away from their 'ace' draw so quickly that it gave De Filippi and Kym's Girl all three options...Take a trail, sit parked and wait for cover, or push forward. When nothing came around De Filippi opted for the latter, probably smiling that he had not needed to use too much petrol getting there. From in front the race was theirs for the controlling, and when De Filippi took a sneaky peek around with 800 metres to run he could see he had Flight South right where he wanted her - last. A furlong later Flight South was inching forward ominously with cover like she had done the previous week, but De Filippi still had a handful of his own mare and wasn't going to be outsprinted this time. He asked Kym's Girl to go rounding the home bend and they stole the show; last half in 56.6, quarter in 27.4, I'll take this one thanks. "The race was always going to come down to a battle of tactics, especially when it dropped down to a nine horse field," De Filippi said afterwards.

It was Bill Denton, the stable's most respected employee, that planted the seed in his son-in-law's mind about taking Kym's Girl to the front, because he had driven the mare that way in lead-up work and said she had felt good being there. "She had been tried that way in races before without much success, but she is stronger this season and we have been trying to teach her to find the line," De Filippi said.

Apart from co-training the fourth mare in history to win back-to-back Breeders Stakes, joining Lento (1995,1996), Blossom Lady (1991,1992,1993)and Bonnie's Chance (1982,1983,1984), De Filippi also had the satisfaction of proving a point about his mare's ability after finishing second the previous week. "I heard someone say this year's Breeders Stakes field was weaker than past years, but when you have got an Auckland Cup winner, a Hannon Memorial winner and a previous winner of the event it can't be all that weak. Kym's Girl would definitely rate up with the best mares I have driven; horses like Idolmite, Quiet Touch and Adio Routine," he said.

Kym's Girl was entrusted to the De Filippi stable by her owners David Miller, Bill Marra and Graeme Trist. She developed unsoundness in a hoof following her game run for third in last years' NZ Cup, and it was thought that having access to a pool would help her training and she has responded well to it. Kym's Girl will start once more before the Easter Cup, after which she will have a spell and be aimed again at the NZ Cup.

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 21Mar01

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2001 PGG YEARLING SALES SERIES 3YO FILLIES PACE

Had you been around West Melton trainer Geoff Dunn in the hour or so before the $90,000 PGG Yearling Sales Series Fillies Pace, he might have given you the nudge for race roughie My Party Doll. On her C8 assessment, Like An Atom looked fairly safe, although there had been a health scare which appeared to be behind her after a mobile win at Cambridge eight days earlier.

My Party Doll was one of a bunch of well-bred maidens with a pedigree to swim for, but on the face of it in mainly with hope and luck. That was pretty much the thoughts of most punters who sent her out the 10th choice in a field of 13, but Dunn wasn't one of them. "When I came onto the course, I told my brother Robert that I thought she would win. He must have thought I was a real wally," he said. Whether Robert thought he was a wally or not, Geoff was the one planning the celebrations afterwards, saying it was the first time he had been able to race the filly without her being in season. "And she had worked huge on Wednesday, running a furlong in 12.6," he said.

Dunn has a catelogue of reasons why My Party Doll had not won a race in her six previous starts, because she has always trained at the level of a good horse. "As a 2-year-old, she blitzed a field in a trial at Addington, and at her first-start at the races she was a dead-cert beaten. She had won four of her five trials this time in before getting to the races and ran a cracking second first-up. She didn't go as good as I expected after that, but in three of those runs she was in season," he said.

Driven with great patience by stable driver Gerard O'Reilly, My Party Doll came into the attack with Kamwood Gal and Mischievous Minx and finally outstayed the northern Holmes Hanover fillies. The shareholders in My Party Doll are Bob and Jenny Sandford who paid $24,000 for the filly, from the family of Cup class pacers Chief Command and Indecision, and gave Dunn a half-share to train her. "I made a decision to go this way because 'til Bob and Jenny came along I had had a lot of middle of the road horses," he said.

Dunn knows he is lucky to have them and the bounce is returned because the Sandfords are Labrador-loyal and have often proclaimed the under-rated talents of Dunn and O'Reilly. As well as breeding as they continue to do, the Sandfords are enthusiastic buyers of yearlings and they pitch most of their bids at the middle to high commercial stock. An example is the $34,000 they spent to buy Agios Nikolaos, which has now returned them more than $40,000, although he was outworried by the much improved Mehrtens in the previous race. "I still think he will be the best horse I have had," said Dunn of Agios Nikolaos. "He is still growing and will get there eventually."

By his own admission, Dunn has battled in the rung under the top echelon of trainers, being with them one memorable season when he was fourth on the premiership with 27 wins. It didn't do him any good. "You know, I never got a new client. That was not a good sign." The Sandfords were with him soon after and now the partnership accounts for more than half the horses Dunn trains. He says: "I would be doing something else now if it wasn't for Bob."

Dunn was a late starter getting a job in the industry, and he was 20 before he was on the payroll with his brother. Before that he had a smorgasbord of employment opportunities that he says "you wouldn't want to know about." At that time, the thought of seven days a week, as many hours as you liked, didn't sit too well with him. Until Mighty Molecule came along and won eight, his best winners were his "middle roaders" such as Sir Striker, Miss Franco, Hydro Lad and Last Dream. My Party Doll is now in a class of her own, and is taking Dunn with her. The Sandfords have seen to that.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 21Feb01

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2001 AIR NEW ZEALAND TROTTING FREE-FOR-ALL

Last Sunset was devastating in winning the $50,000 Air New Zealand Trotting Free-For-All by a head from Waihemo Hanger in 3:14.4, nipping nearly a second off Basil Deans's 3:15.3 he ran in the NZ Trotting Championship at Addington in 1984, and from all accounts he is not quite trotting to the satisfaction of trainer Tony Herlihy.

In light of this information and considering the enormous effort of Waihemo Hanger, the others will need to be on full alert to head him off.

Tim Butt won't know for sure until Friday night if he has Take A Moment as fit and well as he would like. What he does know is that he will need to be 100% fit if he is to beat Last Sunset in the Clark Boyce Lawyers $100,000 Dominion Handicap at Addington. In neither of his Cup Carnival runs has Take A Moment been right on his game. It wasn't obvious on Cup Day when he won off a 20m handicap, but it was on Show Day as he laboured home in the free-for-all.

Is there a problem with Take A Moment? Yes, there is. Not major, nothing in fact that might not be repaired and warrant-of-fitnessed in good time for the race. Take A Moment had a corn removed from his near-side foot last Wednesday, the day after his win over Special Force and Major decision.

Credit: mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 21Nov01

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

2001 FIRESTONE FIREHAWK TZ100 FREE-FOR-ALL

Angela Jane? First. Young Rufus? First also. Jack Cade? He won. Dependable? Yep, him too.

The hardest time to win a race at Addington is on Cup Day, but Mark Purdon made it look easy when he saluted the judge four times with members of his team. Excluding the Cup, Canterbury's adopted son was the star of the show. And while hard to single out any one performance it was the run of Young Rufus in the $25,000 Firestone Firehawk TZ100 Pace that left most people shaking their heads in disbelief.

Never seeing the fence at any stage during his race, Young Rufus was three-wide with-out cover throughout and even had the cheek to change gear and skip clear turning for home. This minor free-for-all on Cup Day has often been a stepping stone to stardom for some great pacers, and in recent years the likes of Iraklis and Yulestar have both won it and then come out the following season and won the New Zealand Cup.

Knowing only too well that Young Rufus was getting mentioned in the same sentence as some Town Hall company, Purdon had no hesitation saying that he expected him to go on to bigger and brighter things. "He is a great horse. You can just put him in the race at any stage. There is a bit of class about him," he said.

On the programme for Young Rufus this season are the major 4-year-old events, and next year's Inter-Dominions. It is only 12 months since this horse got beaten narrowly in the Sires' Stakes Final by Franco Heir, and just look at him now. "His main problem as a 3-year-old was steering problems," Purdon said. "I put a pole on his off-side and he used to run away from it, so we had to take it off. It is back on again now, without a pricker, and because he has matured a bit he seems fine with it."

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 15Nov01

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2001 NOBILO FREE-FOR-ALL

As a NZ Cup contender, Pic Me Pockets was always on the list but nowhere near the top. After all, some 22 open class horses and last year's Auckland Cup winner Flight South are chasing those 15 spots on Cup Day, and prior to last Friday's meeting at Addington Pic Me Pockets still needed two wins to join them. He only needs one now.

The In The Pocket 6-year-old beat home a star -studded field in the $25,000 Nobilo Pace - albeit after enjoying the trail - and showed what he was capable of against the big boys. It was a welcome return to form for the same horse that won last year's Messenger and Franklin Cup.

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 17Oct01

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2001 AVON CITY FORD NEW BRIGHTON CUP

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

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2001 NEVELE R FILLIES FINAL

"From the gutter to the throne."

The racetrack Joan of Arc in Sparks A Flyin, now the heroine of nine wins from 12 starts including the $100,000 Nevele R Fillies Final, and once the despair of trainer Cran Dalgety whose words these are. Once again, the filly of peasant stock showed that pedigree is little more than a paper passport with a command performance against the best fillies of her age.

Although beaten the week before in the Oaks by Shania Patron, there was more confidence in the camp with just a week between the races that she would turn the tables. "She was a bit sharper for this one," said driver Mark Jones. "There is not many that come from behind her and beat her. In a fight, she is too good," he said. Jones went out with the intention Sparks A Flyin would put these qualities on the line. She was never headed after a gentle first 600m before taking over at the 1400m and then running the race he planned. Kamwood Gal held second after a nice trail behind the winner, while A Little More Magic made strong headway to close on the pair quite noticeably.

Looking back, Dalgety can honestly say Sparks A Flyin was a trainer's nightmare. Anyone less professional would have said goodbye and good something to her long ago. Under duress, and with many a mild curse, Dalgety endured her irascibility and put aside personal embarrassment and indignity. He recalls taking her to a trial at Rangiora when she not only decided not to race but refused to leave the track. The only way she left was after Dalgety removed the cart and harness. Next time away from home, she didn't want to join the others on the mobile gate, so Dalgety ran 50 metres, holding her head, just to help her out. She ran and qualified, but Dalgety said he didn't get excited because he had some recovery of his own to do.

What made him so loyal to such a rascal?

"When Jim and Susan (Wakefield) bought her, it was mainly because we liked her. She was something of an underdog, and she only cost $11,000. But she was a handful to break-in, and in the end she just had to leave the property. She would try to run out of the gate, and if there was something to do wrong, she would do it. At this stage, we decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and Steve Hale took her away for a couple of months. He gave her one on one, and worked her round the roads in a big gig. This was a big turning point for her. It was an experiment rather than a yes or a no. Although she was anti everyone, she came back ninety-five percent better. What I liked about her was that even if you disiplined her hard, she would never sulk. She'd come back to you. Defeat wasn't part of her," he said.

The next learning curve in the life of hard knocks came when he sent Sparks A Flyin to a North Canterbury farm for a spell as a late 2-year-old. "She was with cows, and being treated like one. She got a lot of benefit from that, too," he said. There has been no stopping the progress Sparks A Flyin has made this season, moreso over the past six months.

"It was not until she had won her third race that I thought she was something better than average. That's when I stood to attention. I could see she was a horse that kept coming back for more. But there is nothing extra for her. Everything has to be simple. We now know what she wants," he said. In terms of training achievements go, Dalgety rates this at the top. "The odds were against us. From where we were, to where we are, is definitely remarkable," he said.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 16May01