Irish Whispers rated a good chance tonight

Irish Whispers (Art Major) looks a good chance of racking up harness racing career win number four at Cambridge Raceway tonight.

He’ll line up in Race 4, the Dunstan Horsefeeds Mobile Pace (7:39 p.m.)

Trained out of Ohaupo by Peter Brown, the son of Art Major was purchased from the Christchurch yearling sales by Peter’s wife Roslyn, who had high hopes after the pair took a liking to his full brother.

“Roslyn purchased him from the Christchurch yearling sales off the back of a horse we trained, Chosen Major, who was his full brother. He had a lot of ability and we thought a lot of him, but unfortunately he became unsound, so we decided to buy his brother,” said Peter.

So far, the gelding has delivered a tidy record of three wins and four placings, earning just over $30,000 in stakes. After a busy campaign last time in, he was given a decent break to freshen up.

“He really just needed a freshen up. Unfortunately, he just copped a couple of hard runs, and I thought it would be best to give him a break and get his head back in the right space,” Peter explained.

Things didn’t go entirely to plan this preparation.

“I had him ready to go to the trials and he ended up catching a virus, so I had to tip him out for a couple of weeks which put us backwards a wee bit.”

Nonetheless, he made a strong return to the track fresh-up at Cambridge Raceway on July 10. After being restrained to the tail of the field, the gelding made a strong move around the pack in the final stages of the race to run into second.

“I was really happy with him. He had to make his own way, and it was a good run. He’s come through it super and his work since has been good, he’s fresh and ready to race.”

Brown is confident that the gelding will take natural improvement from his first-up effort and is expecting a competitive showing tonight. To be driven by Zachary Butcher, Irish Whispers is currently a $3.60 second favourite, behind Dreams Of Eric ($2.60).

“I really rate him. He’ll definitely be thereabouts. When you look at his fresh-up run, he’s gone well and is sure to improve off of it.”

As for tactics, Peter is happy to trust the reinsman.

“We’ll leave it up to Zachary. I’ve done my job, and he’s the man.”

For complete race entries, click here.

by Jordyn Bublitz for Harness Racing New Zealand