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It was cold and wet but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm as some of Southland’s best pacing talent returned to the harness racing track at the Wyndham Workouts last Saturday (Sep. 3).
Pembrook Playboy, Sand Wave, Macandrew Aviator and Da Vinci made appearances in preparation for some of the big spring racing events which are just around the corner.
Although the inclement weather was not conducive to producing fast times, trainers would still have had a sense of where their horses are at, and drivers were no doubt comparing notes.
Below are some comments and photos from some of the trainers:
Macandrew Aviator(5 year old gelding Panspacificflight – Arts Mistress) R75 – 23-6-3-2 (1st R103 and faster heat) – trainer Kirstin Green – “Very happy with him. He just grabbed a line (rein) which he can do. So we’ll put the half pole which he wore last campaign back on. We’ll go to the Hannon and the Canterbury Classic.”
Mach Quillan (5 year old gelding Mach Three – Phantom Menace) R62 – 31-5-5-5 (2nd R103 and faster heat) – trainer Matt Brinsdon –“He’s come up super but needs a bit of drilling down. He’ll have another workout and then we’ll look to line him up somewhere. I’m not ruling out nominating him for the Hannon as he’s such a good stand horse. We’ll also head to Cup week.”
Sand Wave (3 year old colt – Somebeachsomewhere – Wave Runner) R84 – 14-8-1-2 (3rd R103 and faster heat) – trainer Nathan Williamson – “That’s exactly what I wanted. Ollie (driver Ollie Kite) did a super job. He’s looking and doing really well. It’ll probably take another workout or two to have him tight enough to race. He pulled up well and didn’t blow. In the back of my mind there’s a three year old race at Addington (Lazarus Stakes) on the 30th September.”
Pembrook Playboy (5 year old gelding Bettor’s Delight – Dudinka’s Star) R103 – 32-11-6-7 (4th R103 and faster heat) – trainer Nathan Williamson – “He tends to come to hand quickly. He pulled up great and I was impressed with him. He’s going to have another run. He’ll go to the Hannon fresh up and then race on the same night as Sand Wave in the Canterbury Classic.”
Tommy Waterhouse (4 year old gelding American Ideal – Gabriel Marie) R77 – 32-7-7-5 (5th R103 and faster heat) – trainer Kirstin Green – “The tyre went flat not long after the start and I carried on just hoping it would stay off the rim but it came right out at the 600 and wrapped around the wheel so I had to pull him up. I’m rapt with him because he’s come up really well. We’ll go back to a workout this weekend and hopefully have no issues. He’ll target the Hannon then the Canterbury Classic.”
Major Dolmio (4 year old gelding Art Major – Kates Rock) MR 42 – 8-0-0-0 (1st MR 35 and faster heat) – trainer Matt Brinsdon –“He’s not a horse that switches on but he has improved. I’ve been on holiday so he’s been at Lyndon Bonds for about three weeks. Maybe he stays there but we’ll make that decision after Thursday.”
Micaitlen Denario (2 year old filly Captaintreacherous – Shezaball) MR 50 – 2-0-1-1 (2nd MR 35 and faster heat) – trainer Nathan Williamson –“She’s come back really well. She’s a gross doing filly so she’s going to need two or three trials to tighten her up. She’s got the luxury of kicking off as a maiden. I’d like to think she’d be a fairly competitive maiden and then we can look at heading up country for some fillies races if she comes up to expectations. I think every run will bring her on.”
Da Vinci (2 year old colt Art Major – Rockin Cullen) MR 49 – 2-0-1-0 (1st Non Winners Workout Mobile) – trainer Craig Ferguson – “That was his first run back so it was reasonably quiet. The track was bad but he did it nice enough. He’ll have another workout this week and then we’ll look at taking him somewhere.”
Street Art (3 year old gelding Art Major – Curragh’s Princess) MR 50 – 1-1-0-0 (2nd R44 and Faster Mobile) – trainer Craig Ferguson –“He’s just had the one race day start. His workout was good. I didn’t ask too much of him and he’ll also go back to the workouts this week and then look for a ratings race for him somewhere.”
Captain Bligh MR 50 (2 year old gelding Captaintreacherous – Askmenow) (1st MR50 Non Winners Mobile) – trainer Kirk Larsen –“He’s qualified and we quite like him. He’s quite big so we put him aside with the intention of racing him between now and Christmas. We’ll give him another run at the Workouts and we may go to Invercargill the following week all going well. He feels quite a nice horse so we’ll win a race and go from there.”
Rakamurph MR 50 (2 year old gelding Captaintreacherous – Rakarazor) (2nd MR50 Non Winners Mobile) – trainer Nathan Williamson –“The week before, he left the gate pretty hard so this time I just wanted to slot him in and follow them along. He went nicely in pretty testing conditions. I’m thrilled with him and he’ll race on Thursday and look at the Diamond Creek Farm Oamaru Juvenile Stakes.”
For complete workout results, click here.
