The Tough Nut – 2000 Invercargill Cup winner

The Invercargill Harness Racing Club will host the 79^th running of the Invercargill Cup on Sunday 19^th December.

We reminisce a final time prior to this year’s race.

The Tough Nut’s (Oblivion II) win in the 2000 Invercargill Cup was special on a number of fronts.

His winning time of 4-00.1 was a new race, track and Southland record and just 0.6 seconds outside the 1993 Auckland Cup winning time of 3-59.5 by Chokin.

Trained by Laurence Hanrahan and driven by Blair Orange, the five year old gelding started off the 10 metres handicap and ran the 3200 metres post to post in 3-57.5, his last 2400 metres in 2-56.4 and last mile in 1-57.3.  The last 800 was run in 56.9 while the last 400 was cut out in 27.3.

The winning margin was nine and three quarter lengths with Onedin Pick Pocket finishing second, and a quarter of a length back to third placegetter There’s A Franco.

“When I pulled him out at the 500 metres he was just jogging,” junior driver Blair Orange told the press.

The win was especially poignant for his trainer whose five year old son Thomas died of a stomach tumour in November of the previous year.

“Winning was a thrill because he was Thomas’s favourite horse …… he was Thomas’s friend,” Hanrahan said.

Owned by Colin Hay of Gore, Russell Beardsley of Ashburton and Bill Eggleton of Queensland, The Tough Nut won fifteen races and banked $143,608 before he was exported to America.

His other major New Zealand wins were the Waikato Flying Mile, the New Brighton Cup and the Canterbury Classic.

Other winners on Cup Day that year were: Holmes Patchwood (Clark Barron), Smokin Holme (Brent Barclay), Stone Mountain (John Hay), One Dark Night (Ian Jamieson), Surf City (Brad Morris), Dash For Cash (Clark Barron), Let Mark Do It (Jo Herbert), Star Struck Lover (Blair Orange) and Zapp (Andrew Suddaby).

On-course the tote handled $121,810.00 and off-course, $616,155.00

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink