Heenan and O’Reilly ‘troubleshoot’ to triumph

The aptly named pacing mare, Troubleshooter (Sunshine Beach), has been knocking on the door of a breakthrough for Methven harness racing trainer, Mike Heenan, for a while now.

The four-year-old resumed from a six month spell in early December with a handy placing at Oamaru and had run three further placings in her nine starts this campaign prior to hopping on the float for her assignment at Addington Raceway last night (Feb 20).

And while she brought excellent form to the penultimate race on the programme, her trainer was unsure what to expect having spent an awful amount of time trying to figure out how to get the best from his talented mare.

“We’ve had a bit of trouble with her on and off,” said Heenan.

“She’s always looked like she could run a bit, but when things don’t go her way, she’s inclined to throw in the towel. We’ve been experimenting with her gear and working with Gerard O’Reilly, who has driven her quite a bit, and he’s really helped her.

“This filly has just come back a little better this time. Last time in, she’d get her head around the bend, then she’d be on her knee, galloping and messing around. We gave her a decent spell, and when she came back, I drove her first-up, and she ran well but pulled up about 100 yards out.

“We had a talk about four or five starts ago when we weren’t getting anywhere, and she was getting angry and silly. So we changed the gear around a bit, and Jerry decided to focus on working with her rather than worrying too much about where we were in the running or how far back we were. We just tried to keep her happy, getting her away quietly and working with her more than you might normally do with a horse,” he said.

After stepping away safely in the seven horse field, Gerard O’Reilly and Troubleshooter were content to settle in fourth as the field made their first circuit of the 2600m journey in indian file. O’Reilly hooked his charge out with a lap to run and applied the pressure down the back as the lead pair of Beverley Courtney and Craig Ferguson ceded ground at the 600m, allowing Troubleshooter to race clear at the 400m.

From there, the daughter of Sunshine Beach never looked like getting beat and ran away from her opposition at the finish for a dominant five and a half length victory.

TROUBLESHOOTER REPLAY

“She’s quite a wilful, aggressive type, so it’s taken a bit of time. It was actually quite gratifying to see her perform like that,” he said.

“We were really happy. I’m not sure how strong the field was, and obviously, it helped having smaller numbers than you’d normally get down here. But yeah, we were pleased with it. I wasn’t even going to put her in that race,” laughed Heenan.

“I didn’t know it was a $16,000 race until my wife pointed it out. And I noticed that Bobb Butt’s debutant, Passchendaele (Betterthancheddar), a horse Ross Wilson originally trained, was in there. I remember seeing it trial about six months ago, and it looked like a really good, tough staying horse. It went around in about 1:54.5 or something, and it got sold off that run. I thought, “Well, we cant beat it, but there you go.” You just never know”.

As alluded too earlier, Troubleshooter has had a busy summer trying to learn what the racing caper is all about, but Heenan hasn’t been afraid of getting runs on the board and figure things out as she goes.

“Racing itself hasn’t bothered her too much. She’s quite a big filly, but when things didn’t go her way, she would get rattled and stubborn. For a long time, it felt like she wasn’t going to show what she was capable of. We’ve done a lot of things differently with her compared to the others. She works free legged, and I often take her up and down the roads or to the track without worrying too much about working time. I just let her follow the others.

“My friend Tony, who works with us, has always been a big fan of hers. He pretty much lets her do what she wants—within reason, of course. It might sound a bit silly, but in a lot of ways, she responds better when you don’t try to force too much on her,” he said.

Heenan himself was part of the winning ownership group last night, having taken a share in Troubleshooter on the basis of her breeding. He trained her dam, Supreme Harmony (Real Desire), and had a fairly high opinion of the mare even though it never translated to much race day success.

“We’ve had Troubleshooter right the way through having weaned her here at home. Paul Wilkins, who lives just down the road, has had a few horses here. He had her mother, and I quite liked the mare. She had a real desire to race and had been good to me, but she never had the chance to show much. She only had three or four starts before she had wind issues. Each time she raced, she would settle a mile back and then finish strongly.

“I always thought she could have been quite a good horse, so when Paul decided to breed from her, I said I’d probably go in on one or two of her foals because I believed she was the kind of mare that could produce a good one. That’s how this filly came about,” he said.

The win of Troubleshooter was the third training success for Heenan in the first month and a half of the new season. The tally puts him just one win shy of his number of winners last season, with already one more win than the 2022 season also. It’s fair to say the Methven team of Heenan are running hot at the moment, with his in form mare, Shard De Arch(Sweet Lou) having saluted the judge twice already this season and looking like going on with the job as well.

“The most horses we’ve won in a season was 11, which was three seasons ago, and we were going really well. Then we hit a rough patch where, for a season and a half, the horses all got sick. It was a nightmare trying to get them back, but that’s finally behind us. That’s just the way things go sometimes.

“We’re happy with them now. The other horse that won the other week (Shard De Arch) —I’m really pleased with her. She’s improved with every start, and she has a chance to go on with it.

“We’ve got two or three young trotters that have potential. I’d say this is as good a team as I’ve ever had, at least potentially. We’ve got a maiden not far off starting called Smiriti Trouble (Superfast Stuart). I quite like her. She’s just a small, stocky type, but she qualified as a three-year-old and gives me the impression she’ll improve with racing,” he said.

Aside from his personal accolades, Heenan in his role as President of the Methven Trotting Club is really proud of the spring and summer his team have experienced at Mount Harding Raceway.

Field sizes, turnover and crowds have been at an all time high and that has been driven by what he describes as a willing and talented committee and great collaboration with the various stakeholders. With just one meeting left before the Autumn and Winter hiatus, Heenan and his team are looking to finish the season on a high note with a new twist on their annual invited drivers series.

“Harness racing is the heart of what we do here, and we’re really proud of our track. Everyone has worked hard to keep it going,” he said.

“Our last meeting is in April, and it’s going to likely be the last time for Maurice and Tony to come down. They’ve been fantastic over the years. We’ve asked them many times, especially Maurice, and he’s always so obliging. The people down here really respect what he and Ricky May have achieved, and they love coming out to see them.

“Last year, we had two Aussies, Chris Alford and Greg Sugars, who were great. This year, the dates have changed slightly. Normally, we’d piggyback off Cambridge, with them racing Friday and us on Sunday. So I rang around to see who was going to the big race at Cambridge and got in touch with a few drivers.

“This year, though, our date has shifted, so we had to rethink things. We’ve come up with a format where we’ll have four teams:

• A Legends Team, which will include Maurice, Tony, and Ricky.
• A Women’s Team, featuring Samantha Ottley, Crystal Hackett and Sheree Tomlinson.
• A Top Domestic Team, with John Dunn, Matthew Williamson, and Blair Orange.
• A Local Team, with Gerard O’Reilly, Johnny Morrison, and Kimberly Butt filling in for Sarah, who isn’t fit to drive.

“We’ll have five penalty free races, and all drivers will be available for extra drives. When Maurice and Tony come down, they usually pick up three or four extra drives. These days, they’re not as focused on that, but people just love meeting them.

“They’ve been incredibly good to us over the years, and this time, Tony and Maurice have said it will be their last visit. My friend Kerry O’Reilly always brings them over, and while they’ve said “this is the last time” for the past few years, this time it really is. So we want to make the most of it and have an enjoyable day.

“They genuinely love coming down. It’s interesting—maybe it’s just a North vs. South Island thing—but Maurice and Tony always comment that the race days here don’t feel as rushed. They have more time to talk to people, and that’s probably just the more relaxed pace of life down here,” he said.

Sounds like one the Cantab’s better circle the date for!

For complete Addington Raceway results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink