Da Vinci brushes by

Progressive harness racing gelding Da Vinci (Art Major) came with a wet sail down the outside to win the Golden View Care and Lifestyle/Mossdale Cromwell Cup today (Jan. 6).

There were a number of lead changes throughout the 2600 metre feature and Da Vinci was placed by trainer driver Craig Ferguson in the perfect pozie to be able to pounce as the field straightened for the run home.

Ferguson brought him down the outside and he got up to beat a game Got You Covered by three quarters of the length.

“He was quite professional today and nice and relaxed. Sometimes you think they might not sprint up as good on the grass and there weren’t a lot of winners coming from the back which was a concern. Once I pulled him out he got in front of them pretty quickly,” Ferguson said.

The track and race record came under serious threat. Da Vinci’s time of 3-20.7 was just 0.1 of a second outside Glencoe VC’s race and track record of 3-20.8.

It was the four year old’s first start from the stand and his first on a grass track. And the win was the gelding’s seventh from seventeen starts.

“He hasn’t always been good over distance and it was his first start from the stand and on the grass. I was happy with his work leading into today’s race but there were a few question marks over how he was going to handle everything else.”

Ferguson said the fast pace suited Da Vinci.

“In the past I’ve used his gate speed and tried to put him in a position early and he’s probably done a wee bit too much work. Today we managed to land handy enough without doing any work so that was probably the difference.”

Da Vinci is owned by Paul Duffy and his son Brendan who bred the gelding and it was just about the perfect result for the pair as Da Vinci’s older half-sister Nutcracker ran third.

“They were kind enough to send me some nicely bred horses early on. Them sending me some good stock really helped me get things rolling.”

So what’s next for Da Vinci?

“He’s shown he can step away so we’ll look at the Northern Southland meeting because there’s a good stake there.”

The win was Ferguson’s second of the new season and he continues his wonderful strike rate of last year. He’s now closing in on 100 career winners with Da Vinci’s win taking him to 98.

Meanwhile, young Canterbury driver Seth Hill scored his first win when he drove the Robert Wilson trained Falcons Watch to win Race Six.

Seth has been based in the south for the last few weeks, supervising his father Bennie’s horses which are based at Craig Ferguson’s Wyndham barn.

Seth’s older brother Max drove his first winner in the Southern Harness region as well, when he paired up with the Kirstin Barclay and Tank Ellis trained Watch Me Now to win at Invercargill in September 2020.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink