Herbie true to his name in Rangiora Winter Cup

The money was spot on at yesterday’s (Apr. 30) Rangiora Harness Racing Club’s meeting with a betting plunge giving the bookies a bloody nose in the Waimakiriri Businesses Winter Cup Pace.

The Colin and Julie DeFillipi trained Here’s Herbie (Sportswriter) was opened up at a $9 quote for the Country Cup feature on the 10 race programme but by start time, found himself as short as $3.

The four-year-old son of Sportswriter had been taking on some smart types in his short career to date, tackling the likes of Akuta and Republican Party for much of last season, and while today featured some hardened intermediate grade pacers, Here’s Herbie was getting a 30m start from as many as five of the 13 other runners.

Safely away from the ace barrier off the front in the hands of Jimmy Curtin, Here’s Herbie worked off the marker pegs and wrestled the lead off the early pacemaker, Jimmy Arma, with a little over 1400m left to run.

A lap out from home, Here’s Herbie had company and was joined the second favourite in the Robert and Jenna Dunn trained Heisenberg with his pilot John Dunn content to sit at the leader’s wheel and apply the pressure.

Here’s Herbie and Jimmy Curtin remained unphased and despite the constant niggle from the battle tested Dunn horse, found a kick entering the home straight and was able to put the chasing pack away with a little bit of class of offer. The winning margin of one and a half lengths a decisive one in the end.

Asked by Nigel Armstrong of Harness Racing Unhinged whether the plunge was to do with the ‘Jim Curtin’ factor, the two-time New Zealand Cup winning reinsman had a bit of a chuckle.

“Definitely not,” he laughed.

“He’s pretty lazy, he felt a wee bit bigger when I got to the front and when I asked him to go, he sprinted up good. Colin told me was the horse was well, and he went a very good race last start, and I thought he would have to be hard to beat off the front,” he said.

Yesterday’s win took Here’s Herbie’s record to five wins from 19 just starts with 7 placings to go alongside his $74,306 in stakes.

The winning time of 3:15.7 off the front tape made the task of the back markers virtually impossible.

Cya Art and Tim Williams rallied well from four deep on the markers for second while fellow front mark rival Jimmy Arma belied his status as the rank outsider in the field to rally well for third from a cushy trip in transit.

Despite finishing sixth with his own drive, the DeFillipi trained Heza Sport was probably the run of the race in sixth coming from a long way off them having started off the 30m maximum mark. His adjusted time of 3:13.7 and finishing burst were awesome given the stablemate got home in a last half of 56.6.

DeFillipi was pressed about the driver change, but with his name appearing as the sole owner, the rules of racing were the only factor.

“I didn’t get a choice because I had to drive my own or else, I would have driven him, but I was very happy with both of them, ” he said.

“He (Here’s Herbie) had to do a wee bit of work to get to the front and I thought it may have taken his toll, but he has won before a couple times from in front and I was pretty pleased with him going into the race,” he said.

The bookies weren’t the only ones to be taught a lesson with the running of the Rangiora Winter Cup.

Spare a thought for Mr McLeish who while accurate in his appraisal of a Winter Cup being run in Autumn was given a lesson in seasonal dates which provided some light humour for social media followers late on a Sunday afternoon.

For complete Rangiora race results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink