Enghien of old emerges to cap incredible comeback

“Three years in the making” is how harness racing co-trainer Greg Hope described the impressive winning performance of Enghien (Love You) in Friday night’s (Sep. 16) feature trot at Addington Raceway.

In just his fifth race day start since having his outstanding career curtailed by a hind suspensory issue in 2019, the compact son of Love You gave a glimpse of the magic that made him the outstanding two and three-year-old of his crop.

Enghien was immediately taken back from the mobile in the 1980m affair and settled second last in the running line with a lap to go, with pacemaker The Dominator getting away with an uncontested lead.

His driver Ricky May set the nine-year-old alight at the 800m mark, working three-wide into the race on the back of the favourite, Majestic Man who was only able to find a spot in the chair with a solid tempo being set up front.

Enghien had been solid if not spectacular in his five resuming runs and when he was left three-wide and in the open from about the 600m marker, not many would have been keen about his winning chances.

What unfolded was a sensational display that looked every bit like the Enghien of old, a trotter with a high cruising speed and the stamina to sustain it for longer than most.

He used those very tactics to score easily with two and a quarter length back to Majestic Man and a fast-finishing Matua Tana who was on his best behaviour and brilliant in making up ground from last to run third.

ENGHIEN REPLAY

“I was pretty happy with the way he won,” said his driver Ricky May to Nigel Armstrong of Harness Racing Unhinged.

“He did that pretty easily in the finish and it just seems he has to be driven that way to be fair. He just has to be driven a bit more tough not being able to sprint like the others can,” he said.

The winning time was 2:25.6 with the mile rate a tidy 1:58.3 and the last half in a quick 57.6 seconds making it win number 16 from 34 starts.

After such a long time away, it’s easy to forget he won both trotting Derbys and the Jewels, while at four he was good enough to finish second in the Group 1 NZ Trotting Championship and Anzac Cup.

His re-emergence is a boon for an already stellar crop of Open Class trotters that will only benefit from the inclusion of the former age group star.

The satisfaction was evident in the face of Hope as he made his way back through the stabling area, reminiscing on the comeback of his former star and everything it entailed.

“It’s been a long old road. We had him on the hill for about 18 months and when they said they would give him a let up in the handicaps being away so long we thought we would give him a go,” said Hope.

“The horse has been in work about 14 months, and we have just taken our time being off the scene so long and he’s rewarded us tonight. He’s always been a top horse and he was telling us he wanted to be there and given he won everything at two and three apart from one jewels, he warranted an opportunity.

“He looks like he’s only getting better all the time and we are hopeful that he can hang together. He’s probably going to be inferior to Muscle Mountain, but a lot of horses are, but he’s still going to be more then competitive with the majority of the top liners,” he said.

Hope also paid credit to the patience shown by his longtime client and co-owner of Enghien, Richard Dellaca.

“He has been a long-time owner with us and has more or less been there since we started training. He has been the most amazing owner you could ever dream of. He’s been very patient and always followed my advice and hopefully we can win a lot more races together,” he said.

The win of Enghien was part of a racenight double for Hope and his wife Nina, who also trained Mossdale Mac (Mach Three) to win the third race on the card with son Ben Hope in the sulky.

The Addington Raceway programmed featured two further trotting clashes, these being age group affairs for the two- and three-year-old square gaiters respectively.

One Over Da Line (Majestic Son) became the eighth winner from as many foals for his superstar dam in One Over Kenny.

The full brother to Group One winner One Over Da Moon showed he has inherited some of the same early speed when he proved much too good for a quality field of juvenile trotters in the third on the card.

ONE OVER DA LINE REPLAY

The Robert and Jenna Dunn trained trotter was having just his second start after making a gallop in his race day debut a fortnight earlier. One Over Da Line enjoyed a perfect trip in the trail behind the second-place getter, Eyre I Will, with Tectonic making up nice late ground to run third. He will now head to the 2YO Harness Million Trot in October as one of the favoured runners.

Nothern Trotting Derby placegetter, Hot To Trot (Creatine), made it two wins on end in the three-year-old trot in race eight.

The Mark Jones trained trotter was having his second start of his new campaign having won a month earlier on the same track.

He held out a game Sunny Louis who will be much improved for his fresh up run, with Ellatine unwinding nicely to get into third.

HOT TO TROT REPLAY

Hot To Trot now has five wins from 14 starts to go with four placings and will give the likes of Highgrove plenty to think about as they head towards the New Zealand Trotting Derby in December.

For complete race results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink