It’s all in the name for this little battler

Some horse’s names just resonate – and for Janet Exell, It’s A Good Feeling (Mr Feelgood) summed things up nicely, when her 40-start maiden finally saluted in the Battlers of the Bush pace at Swan Hill harness racing meeting last week (Sep. 29).

“I got a winner; David Murphy who agreed to make the trip up to Swan Hill with me got a winner; and Declan (Murphy) got to beat his dad – they ran first and second in our race!  Not only that, I caught up with a school friend I hadn’t seen for 40 years – we had an absolutely great night,” she said.

“But the icing on the cake was with the win by Keely (It’s A Good Feeling) – I can’t honestly believe it’s happened.  I’m just so thrilled that she finally got there.”

It’s A Good Feeling was sent to Exell by South Australian horseman Ray Holberton in 2020 due in part to her VicBred eligibility status, and although Exell managed 12 placings (including six thirds this season), she had been unable to crack the elusive win.

“I actually said to Ray after her 39th start (a third at Hamilton in May) that I didn’t think I was going to be able to get her over the line for a win – she’s a beautiful looking little horse and I told him I thought she might just have to be a show horse,” Exell said.

“I’d actually entered her in the Adelaide Show last year in the Viceroy because I thought she would make it in the show ring, but the show got cancelled, so Keely got a racing reprieve,” she said.

“I think Ray texted me as she was crossing the line at Swan Hill and said: ‘Not bad for a show horse!’”

It was a memorable night for Exell, who also ran second with Areuohkay, and fourths with Princess Alexandra and Show Me the Moolah.

But Exell said it wasn’t all plain sailing.

“I’d never raced at Swan Hill before and neither had my late dad, and I noticed a couple of weeks out the Battlers of the Bush Race and also that there were races for all four of my horses at the meeting,” Exell said.

“I spoke to David Murphy, who usually drives for me, and he said if I put my four in, he’d put a few in as well and we’d go up,” she said.

“So, it was all planned, then 10 days out when I was working It’s A Good Feeling at Horsham, she stood on something on the track and cut the sole of her foot pretty badly.

“I thought I’d have to leave her home, but a good mate Philip Giles, who is also a farrier, told me he thought he could fix her.  He made up a pad for the bottom of her foot and I was amazed that he was right.  She had a few days off, then seemed to come good and we decided we’d go ahead.

“So, she hadn’t raced for four months, she had the injury and four or five days off about a week out from her race – and she just went terrific!”

Exell said the win was an emotional one after moving her mum into aged care and relocating from the Western District back to her parents’ property just outside Horsham.

“I’ve got the four horses in work, and I really just kept going with them to keep my mind occupied. The win was hugely satisfying because I did all of her prep by myself,” she said.

“So maybe I’ve found the key to her, or she might just be maturing perhaps!  Either way, we’ll give her another try now that she’s broken through and see how she goes.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink