11 years between drives as Brett Thomas makes the perfect comeback

Ladbrooks trainer Brett Thomas enjoyed a whirlwind of a day yesterday when Zeus broke his maiden at Banks Peninsula in the Murray Hamilton 75th Birthday mobile pace over 2000m.

Not only was it Thomas’ first training success with just his second horse to the races, it was also Thomas’ first harness racing drive in 11 years!

“It was brilliant. Very happy and very proud of the horse,” said Thomas.

Zeus was able to settle three back on the outside early, before Thomas elected to move up to the parked position from the 1000 metre mark.

From there Thomas took the race to pace maker Fox Terror and driver Blair Orange, winning a neck and neck battle up the straight to win by a nose at the line, with closing sectionals of 57.3 and 28.6.

“I thought I’d run second. It was a pleasant surprise. 

“I didn’t want to be unlucky today. We were considering giving him a little break after today. He enjoyed being out there rolling.” 

That was the three-year-old Downbytheseaside gelding’s first victory in just his second start.

“He’ll have a few more starts depending on how he comes through it over the next couple of days before a break.”

ZEUS REPLAY

Thomas had been back working horses for around a year before making his return recently. Zeus was picked up by Thomas incidentally when purchasing some race gear.

“We’ve had him for a year. He was just a big green sort of a horse.

“John Vincent had some gear for sale on marketplace. He asked us if we had a horse, which we didn’t at that point, so he said he knew of one. It was out at Benny Hill’s who had two for a syndicate and he only wanted one. So two days later we had him.

“He thought it needed a bit of time. So we were more than happy to just play around with them.”

Thomas works at Lincoln Law and juggles his two passions – admitting that the summer months are a great help.

“Daylight saving has been a life saver really! Winter was a struggle. Sometimes we can work them in the morning, other times we can be jogging away at 8pm at night.”

In another milestone victory Melton Magnate brought up Grant Payne’s 100th individual training success when winning the Perfection Plasterers Mobile Pace.

Payne also trained 558 winners between 2008 – 2012 when in partnership with Mark Purdon, including a staggering 45 Group 1 victories.

For complete race results, click here.

by Mike Love, for Harness Racing New Zealand