Everyone’s a winner at Ecklin South

Former New South Wales harness racing trainer-driver Amy Day and her partner Matthew Craven swapped States at the weekend and with considerable success.

Day made the move in December to Craven’s property at Ecklin South, near Terang, and scored her first training win at Geelong on Friday night (Feb. 10) with Irvine (Sporstwriter), driven by Matthew’s brother Glen.

Meanwhile, Matthew was campaigning in New South Wales, with the chief goal of qualifying Heza Son Of Agun for next Saturday night’s (Feb 18) Gr 1 Chariots Of Fire – and it was mission accomplished on that score too (at yesterday’s barrier draw Heza Son Of Agun drew barrier 4).

“It was a pretty good weekend. Mattie got a winner in two States with Pauly D (Art Major) at Geelong as well as the big one on Saturday night (at Menangle with Heza Son Of Agun),” Day said.

“Mattie’s very happy with how the campaign’s started up there and we can only hope for more success. I was really happy to see my little horse come down here and perform for me and the owners.”

Day, the daughter of well-known NSW horseman Neil, has been involved in the sport since her teenage years, first as a driver (with 365 wins to her name), then taking out her trainer’s ticket in her 20s.

Irvine’s win at Geelong was her 101^st as a trainer, and Day said for the time being she was concentrating on the training side.

“I’m happy just to let Matty and Glen drive them at this stage, and I’ll focus on training. I do love driving but down here I am also just enjoying seeing the horses perform well with what we do behind the scenes,” she said.

“I have five horses of my own and they all had a couple of weeks off when I got down, but all the racehorses are getting back to the track now.”

Craven is campaigning “a handful” of horses at Menangle, but Amy said that left a team of around 30 still at home.

“It’s pretty busy, but I have four staff here helping me, and we are very lucky with having a good team around us,” she said.

“I still do things my way when it comes to breaking-in the young horses I have, but as far a my racehorses go, I work in with Matty’s training regime now.  I used to train on the racetrack at home, but the straight track here and the swimming facilities are definitely an advantage.

“No stone gets left unturned with training a horse here, and it definitely helps to be able to do whatever it is that suits a particular horse best.”

Day said she was pleased to be able to repay the faith of Irvine’s owners with the Geelong win.

“He was one I broke in and the owners gave me the opportunity to train, and then they stuck with me again by letting me bring him when I moved here,” she said.

“He is a character around the stables, and he has always been one of the favorites from the get-go – he is not an overly big horse and just a nice little fellow to have around.

“He’s not a superstar, but I do think he will be able to handle himself to race at Melton at some stage, which is all we ask of them.”

For complete Friday race results, click here.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink