Rollercoaster ride ends on a high in Group 2

When Affaire De Cover won Saturday night’s three-year-old Trot NSW Final, his trainer Troy Williams couldn’t help but take a moment and reflect on the rollercoaster ride the duo has endured over the past few months.

Fact is, for a while there, things got so bad, without a touch of luck and an astute horseman’s sense of awareness for his stable, the gelding may not have been around at all, let alone winning a $30,000 Group 2 feature at Tabcorp Park Menangle.

But when it comes to Affaire De Cover, nothing surprises Troy any more. This is a horse that has endured more than most. More than just a racehorse? You bet.

“He’s just got a will to live and I think that shows when he races. He’s a joy to have around,” Troy said.

A progeny of Nigella Bites, Affaire De Cover was orphaned as a foal but raised and nurtured by the team at Medowie Lodge. When the COVID-19 health pandemic hit, the owners passed him on to Troy to pilot the next phase of his racing journey.

The road has never been smooth. Even his name itself came about by fortuitous mistake.

It was supposed to be Affaire de Couer – a French term for “a love affair”. But there was a clerical error when he was registered for racing.

“Someone thought the U was a V,” Troy said.

Affaire De Cover it was. The owners let it slide. V is for victory after all.

“They thought it would be a good omen.”

Turns out, from a racing perspective, it probably was.

In October last year he won the COVID delayed Group 2 Trot NSW two-year-old final at Menangle and took on the NSW Trotters Derby in May.

But then things took a turn for the worse.

“It was just his attitude. I’m on my own so I work with each of my horses individually and I could tell something wasn’t right. He was just a different horse. I could tell just by looking in his eyes,” Troy said.

It was Colitis-X. The vet was convinced if it had been left untreated for just six hours longer, it would have been too late.

Troy spent the next few weeks nursing the promising there-year-old through his recovery.

“We got lucky. Things could have been so much worse, absolutely. We could have been talking about a very different outcome without a doubt.”

Against the odds, he was back racing within a month. He ran second in the three-year-old Trotters Foundation heats. Third in the final.

On Saturday night, the fairytale comeback story was complete.

“It was unreal. We thought we had a great chance. We led in to this with the same preparation as we did for the two-year-old race last year.”

“We knew if we stuck with On Advice for the trip we could make our move at the 150m and that’s how it panned out. Identical preparation and identical outcome to last year. So the owners and I are thrilled to go back-to-back.”

On Saturday, Affaire De Cover was again driven by Robert Morris and won comfortably in a rate of 1:56.3.

This year’s two-year-old Trot NSW Final was taken out by the pacing bred Lettuce Trot.

The son of Tintin In America and Lettucegrin (Grinfromeartoear) was driven by NSW’s leading reinsman Jack Trainor.

Lettuce Trot recorded a career best mile rate of 1:57.8 and has now remained unbeaten in his two starts for Victorian trainer Russell Jack.

Meanwhile in the four and five-year-old Trot NSW Final there was an upset when Araignee Flair won at starting odds of $19.

The four-year-old mare had not won a race in more than a year, however, put her right hoof forward to claim the $30,000 feature.

Trained and driven by Inter Dominion-winning horseman James Rattray, Araignee Flair also recorded a personal best mile rate of 1:55.6.

Also on the night, evergreen trotter Tough Monarch lowered his own Australian track record when winning the 2300m Condell Park Produce Trotters Mobile.

The nine-year-old clocked 1:55.6 after originally setting the Australian record of 1:56.3 for those conditions on October 3, 2020.

The NSW Aged Trotter of the Year has now won 27 races and $446,259 in stakes and is one of the highest-earning trotters in Australia for the season behind Tornado Valley and Majestic Man.