Stubing back on the right track

Stubing (Captaintreacherous) may have a way to go to pay back the patience harness racing trainer Trent Yesberg has shown in him but the Canterbury trainer thinks he is on the right track.

The 34-year-old horseman take just two members of his 15-strong harness racing team to Addington on Sunday and thinks both can win.

But in the case of Stubing even a third career victory will leave him a bit behind on the bills after a frustrating start to his career.

“When he first started racing we really liked him and thought he was at least a five or six-win horse,” explains Yesberg.

“But he ended up needing a wind operation and the first one didn’t go so well so he needed a second one.

“The whole thing came as a surprise to us because he wasn’t making a noise in work or when he was racing and we had to do an endoscope while he was working to get to the bottom of it all.

“Harvey Kaplan actually owned him originally and we could have baled on him but I believed in the horse so we have stuck with him so it was very satisfying to get that win last week.”

Stubing may have made the most of a perfect Samantha Ottley drive last Sunday but he still did it like a horse who isn’t finished yet and while today’s field is slightly stronger he should get a good run through from two on the second line and be hard to beat.

He may not even be Yesberg’s best chance of the pair he takes racing today as while he was disappointed in Beautiful Crazy (R2, No 6) last Sunday he thinks he knows what went wrong.

 “She led last week and kinda waited for them,” he explains.

 “Her best run was probably four starts ago when saved up for one run so I think that is how we will drive her this week and I think we will see the best of her.”

Yesberg is sitting on 83 career harness wins striking at around 10 per cent winners to starters and also has five or six gallopers in work.

“So we have around 20 horses between the two codes and it actually got as high as 28 a few months ago but we have made a decision not to muck around with horses who aren’t going pay their way.

“Maybe if we have one owned by a syndicate and they are happy to keep racing it for the fun we would do it but ideally you want horses who are paying their way.

“It is a hard decision to make for a young trainer because we want to keep growing the stable and obviously it isn’t easy for a first generation trainer to get started and maintain good numbers.

“But we are having winners in both codes and I am keen to keep trying new things and learning.”

For complete race entries, click here.

by Michael Guerin, for Harness Racing New Zealand