Pearl Davone had an impressive win in race 7, a rating 65 benchmark 1400m at the Otago Racing Club’s premier meeting at Wingatui yesterday.
The 5-yr-old mare kicked clear with about 200m to go and ran away from the field. She won by more than three lengths from Drake Boy, with Tap ‘n’ Go a length and a-quarter back in third.
In the hands of veteran jockey Terry Moseley, she was handy enough right round to the finishing bend and then kicked clear to win the race.
Trainer Paul Harris, of Rangiora, was thrilled with the victory and the performance of the horse, given she had not had a lot of luck in her last few starts.
Pearl Davone had finished ninth in his last start at Timaru, but Harris was thinking he had a real chance yesterday.
"We came here with confidence as she probably should have won at Timaru but we were a bit unlucky. The track was hard and I said to Terry ‘it is in the bottom tier of the 65s but it is a winnable race for her’," Harris said.
"She has put them away pretty comprehensively. I was a little bit unhappy in the opening stages but then she relaxed and it was an authoritative win."
Harris was aiming to bring her back to Wingatui on June 6 for another crack. He said she was a better horse at Wingatui rather than up in Canterbury.
"Little fish are sweet."
The horse is owned by the Tahi Rua Toru Wha syndicate, a syndicate made up of about 50 members from all walks of life.
Harris had simply advertised for syndicate members and got responses from all over the country and beyond.
"There are two lawyers from Auckland, there are about five guys on the boats down in the Antarctic, a gold miner on the Coast."
He said syndicates had proved popular as there was minimum input from members but they got plenty of thrills from being a horse owner.
Race 6, the open handicap run over 1400m, was won by Pullyoursocksup, ridden by Courtney Barnes. The 5-yr-old mare made the most of the wet conditions which she appears to have taken a liking to and won by three-quarters of a length from The Growler.
Prebbleton trainer Michael House continued his winning form, Master Lincoln winning race 5, another rating 65 benchmark.
He had trained four winners at Forbury Park on Thursday night and backed that up yesterday.
House said he had wonderful staff and he was just the cheerleader and the guy who wore the big hat in the birdcage. He paid tribute to veteran jockey Chris Johnson.
The horse had good sectionals down the back straight and once he got to the 600m House knew Master Lincoln had the race won.
The horse was likely to return to Wingatui in eight days’ time.
