Win was the icing on the cake

St Arnaud hobby trainer Scott Torney says nothing beats the satisfaction of “sorting out” tried harness racing horses and getting them going – but he certainly still loves a win when it comes along.

And pint-sized eight-year-old mare Hidden Fire (Skyvalley) provided Torney and his wife Michelle with a special thrill, winning her maiden race at start number 57 at Ararat last Wednesday (Jul. 20).

“Winning a race is like the icing on the cake for me.  I don’t ever put any pressure on myself to get there because I get most of my enjoyment out of getting horses going. If we go around at the races and trot all the way and the horse does its best, that’s where I get my enjoyment.  I just love working with them,” Torney said.

“But there’s no doubt it is certainly terrific to get a win!”

The couple have had Hidden Valley since 2020 when (previous trainer) Glenn Conroy asked if they’d consider having a go with her.

“I looked through her form and I thought she was the sort of horse who’d suit us. But when we saw the size of her, I did wonder what I’d done. She’s knee high to a grasshopper!” Torney said.

“The only thing is, she doesn’t know that.  She takes a big stride, and she thinks she’s a big horse, so we just go with that!”

Torney said Hidden Fire also came with a reputation of having difficult barrier manners.

“The first start we gave her she walked around in the pre-race like a dream, and I wondered what all the fuss was about, until the mobile went away, and she just stood there, wouldn’t move,” he laughed.

“So, we’ve gone about things slowly with her and we also turned our team out for quite a bit of 2020 during COVID, so she ended up with a fair bit of time off.

“We like to get our horses as happy and relaxed as possible – we treat them like pets, like the family dogs.  They’re trained from paddocks, but we just let them out to go where they need to go.  I think if they learn to relax, they’re more inclined to listen.”

The Torneys gave Hidden Fire just one start in 2020, then she was raced sparingly throughout 2021 before being turned out in December.

“There weren’t any suitable races for any of our team in December so we turned them out, but a couple of weeks off just turned into a couple of months off and we only got back to racing in April,” he said.

“I think if they’re not doing it properly a lot of the time it’s because they’re not sure what it is you want them to do, so I put a lot of time into getting her comfortable. I think having time off and not rushing her has probably been the best thing for her.”

Since resuming Hidden Fire has failed to weigh in only once, and her win came after a promising second at Ballarat in June.

“In her last half dozen starts she hasn’t put a foot wrong.  She’s been terrific.”

The Torneys will head to Bendigo tonight with Hidden Fire and her stablemate, another trotter, Tension Seeker.

“She’s a bit of a tricky one, too and she’s got a pretty ordinary attitude still, but we’ve learned to compromise with each other!”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink