High priced yearling making home track debut

Having officially held a harness racing trainers license for 43 years, Cambridge horseman Mike Berger might not be training the numbers he once was accustomed too. Still, speaking with him this morning, you get the feeling he is not too displeased with that fact.

“I haven’t got a lot of horses in work, we only have a small team now and I intend to keep it that way, possibly even less in the coming months. But we have some nice young stock and have two or three of them there that are a wee way off doing anything, but they are nice types and should make the grade,” said Berger.

“I’m trying to wind down so haven’t been out scouting any yearlings, I don’t have any staff so don’t need too many on my own to keep me busy,” he said.

Having recently celebrated his 69th birthday, Berger is slowly winding down his training involvement, deliberately handling a smaller team. Still, as is always the case, he is never too far away from having a few nice horses on race day.

Tonight’s (Jan. 12) meeting at Cambridge Raceway, headlined by the G3 Trotters Flying Stakes, will see Berger take a team of three to his home track, with a well-bred three-year-old making his race day debut in the familiar light blue and yellow hoop colours in race two on the nine race programme.

Invisible was an $80,000 yearling sales purchase in 2021 out of the draft of Ohaupo breeders, Sandy and Jan Yarndley, with the son of Always B Miki catching the eye of Berger and longtime stable client, Mary Corboy.

“Along with a couple of the owners, he was one we picked out. He was quite an impressive looking horse. I really like the stock of Always B Miki and I was very familiar with the family having trained his grand dam, Coburg. She was a lovely mare who won a Group One at Addington so there was a little bit of familiarity on the breeding side.

“Mary Corboy is a very strong stable supporter and she had put a group of owners together before the sales, it was just a matter of finding one that we liked. We probably paid a little more than we intended to for him, but he was just a real nice type and a great looking horse. That was his value, so you have to pay for it,” he said.

The $80,000 for Invisible made him the highest priced offering of any of the Always B Miki stock that year and as alluded too by Berger, he is bred to be good, being out of the G1 winning juvenile in Veste. Any hopes at securing the then colt for a bargain were diminished when his half-brother, It’s All About Faith (Captaintreacherous) came out and won the G1 Sires Stakes Final on Cup Day three months before the yearling sales.

“Rodney Frampton broke him in and did a top job for us, as he always does. He really liked him when he broke him in, and we really like him also. He’s a typical Always B Miki and only does what he has to. But he’s a nice pacer and we have given him a bit of time to develop. We tried keeping him as a colt, but he just got too colty and too screamy, so we ended up gelding him and put him out. He came back in much better this time.

“He qualified and we thought about tipping him out but decided to give him a few starts for experience. Of course, over the Christmas period, we haven’t had many workouts or trials so he’s probably a little bit lacking with other horses around him cause the trials he’s been in have only had a couple of horses, so that’s my big concern tonight.

“I don’t give driving instructions, so I will be leaving that up to Ben, he’s driven him at the trials. It’s not the best draw to start off with (barrier five) so I will be happy just to see him get round and do everything right and hopefully go a good race. I think he will be better next time in; the Always B Miki’s seem to improve each time they go out and come back. he’s in the same category, he’s not an overly big horse, but he’s a really nice athletic looking horse and I think after a couple of race starts, he will go out for a break and come back a much better horse,” he said.

Berger lines up another well bred pacer in the fifth on the card with the enigmatic son of Captaintreacherous in Barbarossa. He is the first foal from the 10 win Ohoka Arizon mare, Saharazona whom Berger trained for 69 career starts.

“It’s taken him a long time to get his head around racing. He’s always shown a bit of ability but just the attitude to do it was lacking. Most of last season, he was a bit of a head scratcher, but he has just come back a bit stronger this time and he is going good genuine races. He is finding the line a bit now, so I expect him to go a good race. he’s drawn out a little bit, but he’s really competitive in that grade so I expect him to go good again,” he said.

In the feature pace on the card, Berger lines up another son of Always B Miki in Cos I Can who contests the $20,000 Waikato Summer Cup.

The rating 50 and faster discretionary handicap has attracted a tidy field of ten runners, many of whom look to be capable of a holding a winning chance. Cos I Can has been racing with real distinction for the majority of his career and boasts impressive track and standing start stats which should make him a very good each way chance of repeating his Christmas Cup heroics a fortnight earlier on the same course.

COS I CAN CHRISTMAS CUP REPLAY

“He’s a lovely horse but again, typical of the Always B Miki’s I’ve had, only does what he has too. He doesn’t show you much at home, but he turns it on on race day. He’s hit four now, but he is still an immature horse and has still got a lot of improvement in him. But he is always genuine and rarely goes a bad race, so we are pretty happy with him heading into tonight.

“He’s raced that grade and maybe a bit tougher and has always been thereabouts. So far, he has been really good from a stand, so I’d give him a good show tonight,” he said.

For complete Cambridge fields, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink