A working holiday could not have started any better for visiting New Zealand harness racing horsewoman Mandy Telfer.
And after winning first up in the $30,000 Allied Express Jodies Babe last Saturday night, she is looking right down the barrel of back-to-back victories at Tabcorp Park Melton this weekend.
“I was pretty happy to get the money– it took the pressure off a little bit,” a jubilant Telfer said.
Highly talented five-year-old Our Step Up NZ (Art Major USA-Dance Card NZ (Albert Albert USA) didn’t put a foot wrong for catch driver John Caldow with an all-the-way win in the prestigious mares event.
The horse is trained by Telfer’s brother Steve, who is based at Papakura, a suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand.
“Being the stable foreman, I seem to get the travelling jobs with the horses, but I thoroughly enjoy it, particularly when they show their best,” Mandy said.
“Our Step Up only flew in late at night on the Wednesday, but I was rapt the way in which she handled it. I jogged her the following morning and she was fresh as a daisy and then she had a light hopple-up on Friday.
“We decided not to change her routine because that’s the way we do them back home and John (Caldow) drove her in the fast work session so he could get the feel of her.
“She is really a no-fuss animal. Nothing upsets her at all and she’s so easy to do anything with. Probably the best way to describe her is that she’s a very, very nice horse!”
That seems to be an under-statement. Our Step Up will contest the Happy 70th Birthday Ollie Vicbred Pace at Melton this Saturday night, a race worth $20,000 and restricted to Vicbred mares M0 to M1.
Telfer said a back-row draw wasn’t as bad as it seemed, particularly being two off the inside.
“She has come through her first run of this campaign out here really well. I’m thrilled how bright she is and I really believe she goes better coming from behind,” Telfer said.
“But there are some nice horses in the race, so we’ll find out how we are measuring up.
“All going well I think Steve is keen to look at the Tenderprint C4 to C8 heats and $25,000 final at next month’s Mildura Pacing Cup carnival.
“Then it will be back to Melton for a few more feature mares races including the Angelique Pace, The Make Mine Cullen and hopefully the Group One Queen of Pacific.”
Our Step Up at Melton last Saturday night
Telfer said in a Victorian campaign last season in June and July (considerably shorter than what is planned this time) Our Step Up earned over $20,000.
“We had wins at Shepparton and Ballarat before running second in a 4yo Vicbred mares heat and then 4th in the $125,000 final at Melton behind Tell Me Tales,” she said.
Telfer said the Mildura trip would be nostalgic, as the siblings’ father, Geoff, who lost a battle with cancer in June, 2017, was born, bred and educated in the town.
“Then later on both dad and mum, Fran, prepared and drove a big team at Broken Hill where they lived – winning trainer and driver premierships along the way.
“Mum, who lives at Ariah Park, a small town in the NSW Riverina near Temora, is one of the owners in Our Step Up.
“The horse was bred by Stonewall Stud and is raced by the stud along with the Fillies Syndicate No 9, both managed by my brother Stephen’s partner, Jill Stockman.
Our Step Up
“There’s been quite a few syndicates mum has got involved with and she loves travelling and watching the horses, even more-so when we bring them out here.”
Mandy, who worked for the strong Eric Anderson-Glenn Douglas team at Bendigo for two years, said despite since living in NZ for the past five years, she still enjoyed any Australian trips.
“We have relatives out here and I’m actually staying with a cousin in Mark Watson and his wife Michelle at Kyabram,” she said.
“It’s nice to get away occasionally as Stephen has 45 in work and on top of that they purchased 12 horses at the yearling sales. So it’s a busy operation although we do have six full-time staff.
“The season has been a bit quiet, but things are about to ramp up with some classy two and three-year-olds just back in training.”
Mandy admitted she was enjoying a very laid-back time of it, with just one horse under her care. Prior to flying out, the Telfer stable raced a big team of 15 horses at an Alexandra Park meeting at Auckland!
Terry Gange
NewsAlert PR Mildura