Captain plots a course for more smooth sailing

At this stage in life, St Arnaud trainer Denis McIntyre says he’s in harness racing for the fun – and as far as fun goes, winning your first Metropolitan class race is certainly hard to top.

McIntyre’s five-year-old gelding Captain Pins (Captaintreacherous) sustained a tough death seat run to win the Allied Express Rising Stars final at Melton earlier this month, backing up a last-to-first victory in the heat a week earlier.

“We had a Captain Pins Party up at the club for all the locals who’d supported us. I won a bit on the punt and thought I’ll only waste it so why not get the people together who’ve backed us up – because it’s been a bit of a journey!” he said.

Captain Pins’ performances at his first two runs from a spell, underlined the pacer’s ability and versatility, and the “rising star” tag certainly sits comfortably.

But it’s been a frustrating exercise in patience for McIntyre in extracting the best of the pacer’s undisputed talent.

“He had four or five months out to reset his mind, so to win first up and then to come out and win the final I was the happiest I’ve been with him – I only wish I was this happy with him two years ago!” McIntyre said.

McIntyre and his wife Elise purchased Captain Pins from New Zealand in 2021 after he won at Winton at his fourth start. Captain Pins duly won at his first two Australian starts before 12 months on the sidelines.

He returned to racing in September 2022, but frustratingly mixed his form, despite winning five of 15 starts.

“He’s a lovely horse, but when he decides to pull, he becomes a manic puller.  His form looks in-and-out but the only time his form is bad it’s always the pulling,” McIntyre said.

“He is a very alert horse, not frightened, just hyper-alert and during his last prep there were a few things that just didn’t go right for him.  He’s always got cotton wool in his ears and deafeners on, and they never come off, but he hears everything and sees everything.

“A band was playing at one meeting so that set him off, and another time we were in the last race at a Sunday meeting, and the gun club started its shoot just as we went out onto the track, miles out the road, but he heard them!

“We tried a lot of things this prep because we were getting a bit desperate.  Nose bands and happy bits and all sorts, but nothing really seemed to be working. Then I decided to try a crescendo bit a couple of weeks before that first run back, and he’s just got better and better.”

McIntyre is hopeful he’s found the key to consistency with Captain Pins, who will start from barrier 11 in the Happy 100^th Trevor Craddock Pace at Melton on tomorrow night (Sept 30).

“It’s going to get difficult for him now, but he’s either a Melton or Country Cups horse (as a 93 class), so we’ll see how he handles the step up.  Of course, I’d love to set him for the St Arnaud Cup in November, but that’s a bit too far off to hold out for.”

McIntyre, who’s currently training just two horses, has two last-start winners in the stable, with Puzzle Piece (Heston Blue Chip) scoring his second victory for the season at Stawell last week (Sept 14).

McIntyre enjoyed a favored entry into the sport as a teenager, when he trained and raced gifted pacer Spike (Meadow Vance).

“We won the Cranbourne and Ouyen Cups but he had suspensory problems.  I sent him to Kevin Robinson to train on the beach, and he had 11 starts for him for seven wins and four placings. He won the Redcliffe Cup and the Clive Uhr championship in Queensland which was a Group 1 at a time when Group 1 races were few and far between.

“He raced against the likes of Paleface Adios, Hondo Grattan, all the good horses of that era and I think he was as good as any in Australia when he was sound.

“I was only a kid when I bought him – I was 19 and I’d only had 10 drives when he came along.  I was driving in cups races with maybe 30 or 40 drives of experience.  He was a lovely horse and I wish I’d got him now – I got him too early.  But better than not to have had him at all!”

McIntyre had a 30-year absence from the sport from the 1990s, but returned in 2018, winning 10 races with handy mare Dot The Eye (Shadow Play).

“We really just bought Captain Pins because we wanted something competitive – it’s just become so difficult to compete with the dominant stable in Victoria,” he said.

“At our age, we don’t want to just be going around making up numbers, we want to enjoy the sport, so hopefully we can keep doing that with Captain Pins.  In saying that though, you know that whenever you’re walking tall there’s probably only one way to go!”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink