Ha’penny earns local dollars

Ha’penny (Art Major) provided local Blenheim harness racing trainer Allan Shutkowski with his tenth home course win in Blenheim on Sunday.

After the early rush, driver Wilson House sat Ha’penny four back on the inside with Apatchofgold leading. When Ideal Chevron took over, Ha’penny was pushed back to near last. Turning in, she was second last and a fair way from the leaders.

Under the urging of House, Ha’penny stormed down the very outside of the track to beat Hope For Love by a neck with half a head back to Courage Reactor in third.

“I wasn’t worried. The only thing I thought was for Wilson not to take her back to the inside,” Shutkowski said.

HA’PENNY REPLAY

Her trainer has always had faith in the horse’s ability and was happy with her run for sixth on the first day of the meeting.

“Her form is related to her being tied up and not able to finish off her races. About two weeks ago she started to improve and was running a 400 (metres) right to the line. We had her on a lot of protein food. Two weeks ago we took her completely off that and have gone back to grain.”

Ha’penny is owned by Allan and his wife Petrina and the win was the mare’s second in eighteen starts.

“She’s anxious and very inquisitive and likes to look around and see what’s going on and why. She’s got some seriously high speed, is a typical Art Major and looks like her dad.”

Ha’penny is out of the Pay Me Christian mare CA Penny which won eight races for Shutkowski, including the Listed Southern Mares Classic at Addington. She was also placed in the Group Two Premier Mares Championship and ran fourth in the Group One New Zealand Breeders Stakes.

“At that time we had to travel through Lewis Pass because the road down the Kaikoura Coast was out. So each time we went down to Addington it was basically eight hours on the road and it’s not an easy drive. She lost 10 to 15 kilos by just travelling in the summertime, so she did well.”

Sunday’s win was Shutkowski’s fifty first as a trainer. His first was with Short Cut at Hawera in March 1989.

“I got Short Cut through Lyn Bebbington whose now Lyn Neal. He won three races as a pacer and I converted him to a trotter when he was seven. In those days he had to start off as a three win trotter even though he hadn’t won three races as a trotter. I was pretty tough on him but he still ended up winning two. He was good for me to learn with.”

Other good winners for Shutkowski have been Weka Pass and Todski each of which won five races.

Shutkowski got the harness bug when he was attending Mayfield School which is close to the Waterlea Racecourse.

“At lunch time you’d go out the back and watch these horses go past. I had two uncles that were in the game. Dexter Gibbon who married Ted Lowes’s daughter a long time ago, and Roddy Gibbon who was a farrier, and I was always in awe of them. I didn’t start doing horses until I was thirty. I was a punter and used to hop on the boat on Friday night and go to Trentham on Saturday. It was around the Show Gate Grey Way era. Roddy shod Lord Module. The horse had quarter crack problems and he was the only one who knew how to fix his feet.”

Allen drove his first horse at Peter Neal’s property forty years ago.

“Once I did that I couldn’t stop.”

For complete race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink