Ball in May’s court for tricky Addington resumption

New Zealand harness racing’s most improved pacer last year in the Open Class ranks was undoubtedly the Kevin Chapman-trained Beach Ball (Somebeachsomewhere).

The now five-year-old entire fulfilled the enormous potential he had always shown his trainer and the general public, showcased by his two Group One placings over Cup Week and his Group Three Summer Cup success defeating the champion pacer Self Assured by four and quarter lengths.

“I have always believed he had the potential to be a good horse having had the likes of Four Starzz Flash and Locharburn in the past and the old adage is you have had to have a good horse to know when you’ve got a good horse,” said his trainer Kevin Chapman.

“I’ve always rated him and he’s never let us down or gone a bad race, even when things haven’t gone his way. he’s never been far away and his record speaks for itself.

“To pick the sire and have the broodmare and do the whole nine yards with breaking him in and pre-training and going through all the things you have to go through to see them reach their potential like that, it is a lot more rewarding than having just purchased him and it was an incredibly proud moment no doubt,” he said.

Tonight with most of the action coming out of Alexandra Park, Beach Ball will pose as the main attraction at Addington Raceway as he resumes with his first race day start since his G1 third in December’s Invercargill Cup in the $22,500 Fahey Fence Hire Mobile pace over 1980m.

The winner of 11 races and over $280,000 in stakes has had two quiet trials in preparation for tonight’s assignment and has pleased his North Canterbury trainer with his work.

BEACH BALL TRIAL

“I am pretty with how he has come up, we had a wee hiccup where he bumped his leg in the paddock and that probably set us back 10-14 days,” said Chapman.

“Whatever he does tonight he will improve on obviously. These sort of situations like the one he is in tonight are always tricky and where the horse is probably most vulnerable. There is a $40,000 race next week and a $60,000 race the week after. I would have liked to have been at the races last week but it was 2600m and I thought that was a big ask first up.

“I am just going to leave things up to Ricky, but I don’t think he will be burning out the gate or anything silly. Then you just have to be a wee bit careful because the seven horse field will drop into Indian file and then all of a sudden you’re 10 lengths from the leader. All of the horses in tonights field, they can get home in 27 or better so you are not going to give them a start and run over top of them when most have race fitness on their side, so I’m not taking any of them lightly at all,” he said.

Most of tonight’s seven horse field have at least one run under their belt and they include last season’s G1 Invercargill Cup and G3 Methven Cup winner, American Me (American Ideal) who was buried away along the markers and given a quiet run in his race day return last week. Subsequently, his pilot Sarah O’Reilly reported to have not activated the deafeners and on class, he looks the most likely to test Beach Ball and Ricky May.

With the preferential barrier draw and race fitness on their side, the most likely dangers will come from the Dunn trio of Mighty Looee (Sweet Lou), Who’s Delight (Bettor’s Delight) and Heisenberg (Art Major) with all three battle tested and likely to be making things tough for their opposition with the likelihood of no genuine tempo in the small field.

The Addington features on the horizon Chapman speaks of are the G3 $40,000 Autumn FFA and the G2 $60,000 Superstars Championship which will pose as a natural stepping stone to some loftier targets in the Autumn, predominantly in the North Island where the son of Somebeachsomewhere’s slight setback cost him any opportunity of testing himself in the $1,000,000 Race By Grins at Cmabridge.

“Ill base any North Island campaign on how he gets through the next few weeks here at home. All going well he will head up to Auckland where he can go and tackle the Taylor Mile, Messenger, Roy Purdon and Auckland Cup.

“There was some interest for him in the slot race, but I didn’t think he was going to be forward enough and the setback probably cost him being match fit and made it that much harder. he still has a lot of good years ahead of him and I am thinking beyond the next 12 months and managing him for that. When you get to this stage and grade with horses, you cant be in everything so we have to pick and choose our battles a bit too” he said.

Chapman reports he is close to a public appearance with the latest progeny out of the dam of Beach Ball, with a three-year-old son of Locharburn from Twilight Rascal inching closer to a qualifying trial in the near future.

“He is pretty close to going to the workouts in the next week or two but that will depend on where I am but he isnt too far away and then I have an Art Major filly who has just done a bit of light work and nothing serious and she is also due to come back into work shortly,” he said.

In the feature trot on the programme, last season’s Rowe Cup winner, Love N The Port (Love You) will resume for the first time since January with a view to defending his North Island trotting crown and finds himself a $1.90 favourite in a six horse field which includes his stablemates Majestic man (20m) and the inform Jimmy Carter (10m).

For complete Addington Raceway fields, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink