As Tisbury harness racing trainer Kirstin Barclay rightly points out, Paddyproudfoot has a good horse’s record.

“His record shows that, and he hasn’t had that many starts,” she said after the six-year-old won the $20,000 Dan Cummings Memorial Tuapeka Lodge Cup at Ascot Park today.

Paddyproudfoot and Kirstin Barclay heading into the birdcage prior to the Cup.

The Washington VC gelding had been off the scene prior to his start on this track at the beginning of the month. Prior to that, his last start was at Addington nearly two years ago.

“It did take a bit of work getting him back. He’s such a good doing wee horse. We were lucky to give him a run here a couple of weeks ago with Max (Hill) driving him to help the horse get some race fitness and we’ve had a good training week on the beach.”

In today’s feature Paddyproudfoot began well but had to be shaken up early to get his mind on the job.

“He can be a little bit of a bugger and take the piss out of you sometimes. As soon as he stepped off the mark, he went to drop the bit, so I had to pull the plugs to get him to cross over to the front.”

He then slotted into the trail behind favourite Robyns Playboy which today was driven by Matty Williamson with his usual pilot Craig Ferguson committed to Chuckles whom he trains.

Robyns Playboy leading with Paddyproudfoot in the trail with a lap to run

“He travelled beautifully. There were some slow sectionals and I thought Robyns Playboy would have too much sharp speed for us, but my horse dug in really well.”

The closing 800 metres was run is a slick 55.1 and the final 400 metres in 27.5. The winning margin was half a head with Robyns Playboy running a game second and just falling short of winning his third Tuapeka Cup.

Kirstin Barclay driving out Paddyproudfoot to get up and beat Robyns Playboy

The win was a credit to Barclay’s conditioning skills and her easy access to Oreti Beach where she and former training partner Tank Ellis trained many winners.

“It makes a difference being an older horse and getting enough work into him. You always want to look after them when they’ve had an injury but he’s at the stage where he has to step up.”

It was Paddyproudfoot’s sixth win at only his fourteenth start and Barclay says the win has earned him a trip to Cup week.

“We might look at the Junior Free For All. He follows speed really well. As we saw today, he followed a horse that’s been racing well in the top grade, so he deserves a chance.”

Paddyproudfoot is raced by Peter and Julie Duffy and Brian and Rosemary Duggan.