Patience brings success for comeback pair

He’s had more than 50 wins as an owner and trainer, but neither John Kennedy nor his pacer Notsokool (The Wrath Of Pan) had visited the winner’s circle in quite a while before making the long trek to the Horsham harness racing meeting (Apr 24).

But the pair from Pyramid Hill, north of Bendigo, are back on track after their victory in the Hygain Equine Feeds Pace – Kennedy’s first as a trainer since 2019 and for Notsokool his first since October 2021.

“I wasn’t even planning on going to Horsham really,” Kennedy said.

“The horse had run a hell of a race when he ran third at Charlton, but then got balloted for his next start so I thought if I got another ballot at Horsham, I’d have to get a run next time.  But we got in and it all worked out for the better!” he said.

Although Kennedy, who owns a farm just outside Pyramid Hill, has had consistent success, most notably with Copthewrath (17 wins) and Celebrindle (eight wins, including two metropolitan victories), it’s fair to say he has mostly dabbled in the training side of things.

In fact, the Horsham win, when Notsokool was driven by Michael Bellman, was at only Kennedy’s second start as a trainer in three years.

“Back around 2018 I was racing a few, but then I started jogging them up and sending them over to Mick Gadsden and Denbeigh Wade at Charlton,” he said.

“This fellow won his maiden for them, but he’s been a bit of a problem because he’s not the best-gaited horse – I think he’s had 11 starts and galloped in about four of them. A lot of people have tried to work out if there is an underlying factor, and he’s had a lot of chances.”

Kennedy said after Notsokool managed only two unplaced starts in 2022, he decided in January to sell him.  But it didn’t work out due to the new owner’s health issues and the pacer came back home.

“I really just brought him back to keep company with another two-year-old I am working, but eventually I thought I might as well have another crack with him myself,” Kennedy said.

“He’s one of The Wrath Of Pan’s last crop, and they always seem to take a long time.  I’ve had four or five of them over the years, because he stood at stud at Eldarin Park here at Pyramid Hill, for Mary Helen Pearce.

“All The Wrath of Pans seemed to be similar types – not real clean pacers, but with a bit of speed, and you have to be patient with them. The best one I had was Copthewrath, who the Ouyen Pacing Cup and this bloke is a three-quarter brother to him.”

Patience is clearly something Kennedy has plenty of.  He is close to the last harness racing trainer left at Pyramid Hill, and while he does his jogwork at a track on a neighbor’s farm, he did the long miles in order to try to sort out Notsokool’s issues.

“It’s hard when you can’t work against other horses and there really aren’t any others trained around here now.  I’m a bit lucky that this is a bit of a hobby for me, so I took him to the Sebastian track and worked him against one of Ray Sutton’s horses every weekend for four weekends in a row,” he said.

“It was really to get that hard fastwork into him, but I also definitely think it helped him to be working with another horse because I honestly think a lot of his issue is just maturity.”

Notsokool might still be something of a work in progress.  He broke up at the start at Horsham but gave Kennedy plenty of heart by making up the 20 metres and scoring a four-metre win.

“I had a mate (former harness racing trainer) Ted Carmody come with me for the day and we left at eight in the morning, and I think I got in the door at seven that night. It was a long day but I’d love to think there might be a few more days as exciting as that,” he said.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink