The composer and the conductor

If there’s one horse that epitomises what this Sundays’ Harness 5000 at Ashburton is all about, its Rachmaninov (Diedre Don).

Harness 5000 is a chance for not so expensively bred horses of all ages to race against those of the same or similar age for good money.

It’s also a chance for not so high profile trainers to have their day in the sun.

The evergreen trotter Rachmaninov and his trainer Trevor Grant have been a fixture in trotting fields for nearly a decade.

Owned by Grant and his partner Yvonne Pycroft, Rachmaninov qualified as a two year old on the Ashburton track in January 2017 and since then he has clocked up plenty of ks.

He’s not been one to shy away from some big moments either, starting in the likes of the New Zealand Trotting Derby, the Three Year Old Ruby, the New Zealand Trotting Championship and the New Zealand Trotting Free for All.

“The more you race him the happier he is,” Grant says of the 297 start veteran.

Trevor has spent most of his adult life involved one way or another in harness racing.

“When the night trots came in at Addington I used to go with Mum and Dad. I remember when quinellas came in and Mum managed to box up three or four. She got this quinella and it was a 100 or something dollars. We stopped at the Medbury Hamburger Bar in Columbo Street on the way home.”

He began his training as a psychiatric nurse at Sunnyside in 1972 and spent a number of years working in that sector. Gavin Burgess was in the same class.

“I didn’t really know him but he told me his dad trained a few horses. One thing lead to another and I ended up with a quarter share in a pretty slow old thing. She was a three year old trotting filly (Lady Arwen) and we took her down to Kevin and Bonnie Williams to work with a two year old colt. We didn’t see which way the colt went. He turned out to be Master Mood.”

Lady Arwen never raced but she was sent to stud and her first foal was Catch The Wind, a seventeen hand pacer by Doc’s Tuck which qualified and was trained by Grant.

“I was overseas coaching womens rugby and I left him with Eric Ryan. He told me when I got back that the horse just wanted to be a trotter.”

Catch The Wind won two races trotting and he was Trevor’s first winner when he won at Marlborough in February 1990.

Burgess also alerted Grant to another young pacer, which he was having problems with.

“Her owners didn’t want to spend the time finding out what might be (the problem). Gav gave her to me and with the help of Fred Fletcher we got Adio Routine going.”

Adio Routine won fifteen races including the New Zealand Mares Championship, the New Zealand Standardbred Breeder Stakes, the Queen of Hearts and the Canterbury Classic. She also campaigned successfully in Australia, winning the Queen of The Pacific and one other race.

Rachmaninov which was named by Grant, is out of dual gaited In The Pocket mare Starwood In Aspen which won two pacing and four trotting races in 127 starts.

“Yvonne learned classical piano as a kid and through high school. She loves Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto Number Two. I didn’t tell her, but I put the name Rachmaninov in and it came back okay.”

Leading into this weekend’s Harness 5000 Rachmaninov’s record is 297-14-18-20 for $229,341.

“He’s just a silly old gelding that keeps singing out that he’s up for it.”

Seven of his wins have been on the Rangiora track, two at Methven and Motukarara and one apiece at Reefton, Westport and Kaikoura.

Trevor has driven the gelding for seven of his wins, John Morrison and Robbie Close three and Ben Hope once.

Rachmaninov has had 184 starts from the stand and most of those have been from the unruly.

“He’s always been and bit of a rouge at the start. He’s got to be kept moving. That’s why he’s still on the unruly because he can walk around at the back and come in late.”

George Eliot is the last foal of Starwood In Aspen. By Royal Aspirations, she’s a half sister to Rachmaninov and has won six of her fifty four starts. She last raced at Addington in December last year.

“She was stood down and when we x-rayed her you could see cracks through the sesamoids. We’ve just got the clearance on her now. We’ll start to give her some strong work and the vet Becky Sutorius will have another look at her when we’re about to have a trial.”

Trevor trains at Eyrewell Forest in the Waimakariri District of North Canterbury where he’s set up with a 574 metre track. He’s held a training licence since 1989 and has trained 59 winners.

When asking Grant about retirement for Rachmaninov, he mentions one horse – 491 start veteran Take After Me.

“He’s fourteen and old Eddie (Rachmaninov) would be really pissed off is we retired him before Take After Me.”

Age hasn’t slowed Rachmaninov down and this season has been his best, recording five wins.

So it’s all systems go this Sunday for both the composer and the conductor, but we’ll have to wait until the last race for Rachmaninov to appear on the Ashburton stage.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink