Golly good drive secures win for trainer, breeder, owner

An inch-perfect drive from Lawrence McCormick was enough to see the Raewyn Low-trained Missmollygoodgolly (A Rocknroll Dance) upset them at odds in the final race of the card yesterday (Dec 18.) at the Rangiora Harness Racing Club.

In tricky conditions after showers for much of the day, the six-year-old mare was able to be extricated from four deep on the markers turning for home to score by a nose for her breeder/owner/trainer, Low.

“We got a bit lucky in the run home, and she was traveling a bit better than Robbie Close’s runner, which allowed us to get the gap before he did, which was the winning of the race really,” said her driver Lawrence McCormick after the race.

The Ashburton horsewoman has held a training license for 17 years and while not a name familiar to the average harness racing enthusiast, McCormick and Low have formed a connection that goes beyond the horses themselves.

“Raewyn trains a small team and always has her horses looking super and the horses are always presented looking super,” he said.

“I trained from Raewyn’s property for about five or six years, and we became good friends, and Raewyn, and Dennis are actually our godparents, so she can’t really sack me unfortunately,” he laughed.

“I never get any instructions from Raewyn, she just enjoys the industry and does it for the love of it, she doesn’t do it for the money,” he said.

Low has now trained the winners of nine races with three of them coming from the winner of yesterday’s race.

When talking to Nigel Armstrong of Harness Racing Unhinged after the race, it became apparent why her passion for the industry runs so deep.

“My father was Charlie Hunt and he bred and raced horses like Light View (G2 Canty Park Trotting Cup & Interdom Heat Winner), Winning Smoke and Port View (one of the first 50 horses to break 2:00 for the mile in NZ history).

“My husband was Derek Low and he had Regal Maina (G2 4 & 5YO Championship winner) and when he shifted his property, we were in with Graeme Saunders. We were only there a year before he passed away and we continued on with the training from his property,” she said.

Yesterday’s win was obviously made sweeter by the fact that Low bred and owns the mare herself having produced her from the Pacific Rocket mare, Turbo Included.

She hasn’t been the most prolific broodmare the studbook has ever seen with Missmollygoodgolly the only winner from the seven live foals, but as alluded too by McCormick, Low isn’t in the sport for commercial purposes and clearly has a special affinity with the breed.

“My late husband bought two horses at the yearling sales a while back and one of them was the mother of Missmollygoodgolly.

“She was unraced but did qualify and we ended up breeding from her. Unfortunately, Missmollygoodgolly was the only filly from the mare, but she is also the only one from the mare that can run. I have a full brother to her, but I don’t think he will be any good if I’m honest,” she said.

While the daughter of A Rocknroll Dance who has also produced 12 placings to go along with $33,000 in stakes is a favourite of Low, the same can’t be said for the commentators who at times struggle with the alliteration in the bonny mare’s name.

The late Mike DeFillipi trained She Sells Sea Shells was another that springs to mind, but Low doesn’t mind keeping the commentators on their toes as long as her pacer keeps producing winning runs like yesterday.

“I was just thinking of a name and as you know sometimes you think of a good name, and they are wasted when the horse doesn’t turn out any good. But unfortunately, this one has turned out alright and it trips up the commentator a wee bit to start with which is quite good,” she laughed.

MISSMOLLYGOODGOLLY REPLAY

Paying $28 on the tote would indicate neither punters nor the trainer expected a winning result yesterday, and it has thrown a spanner in the works for the future plans with Missmollygoodgolly who was looking to come back and race on the grass surface at Rangiora in a similar grade in the near future.

“We were going to come back here in a fortnight, but we will have to go and regroup because we gained all those points. There is no point of racing her in behind and thrashing them, you have to look after them. She isn’t the nicest filly to have around home at times,” she said.

“I’ve just got an Always B Miki two-year-old in work along with this girl at the moment. We might have a few more in the new year, but at the moment there is just the two and that’s enough with the Christmas rush,” she said.

For complete Rangiora results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink