2005
Trotters Series
Alexandra Park, Auckland, NZ
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2005
Trotters Series |
"I just hope they weren't celebrating down there too soon," he said. No fear of that. Play On had a buffer of two lengths and a half, earning a cool $125,000 for his effort, which lifted his earnings past $200,000. It was compensation on a grand scale for Lamb, who qualified Play On for the Grand Final at Addington two years ago, when he was only five, but had to scratch him on the morning of the race. "The best he'd run was a fourth. He then got a cold. The series got to him," said the country policeman. Lamb's first horse to race was Lamberton Lass who didn't win for him, but did for Colin Butler. Play On was bred and first tried by Gavin and Helen Mills, of Hororata, and they may well have kept him but for a falling out when he was young. Helen was hurt by Play On, and required four months in Burwood Hospital to recover from various injuries. Lamb was offered the son of Bellam, leased him, then later exercised his purchasing right for $5000. He was from the pacing bred-mare Fair Play, by Vance Hanover, and could pace but Lamb said "he could trot like a stag". Being by Bellam it probably came easy. Bellam, by Plat du Jour, won 14 races-seven of them at three-and finished racing when he was six, having won more than $110,000. His stock
have performed well, among them Bede, 5 wins, Peter Dylan (5), Belday (5),
Carlo (7), Flaming (9), There is nothing fancy about the way Lamb trains Play On. "Fast work down the roads; he works himself." The way the little guys do. * * * * * * * * * *
Thornley gives Play On the Trip of a lifetime One of the first to congratulate Craig Thornley at Alexandra Park last Friday night was Todd Macfarlane. As well as being cousins, their other rare and recent bond was having won the Inter Dominion Trotters' Grand Final. Macfarlane won the race five years ago with Special Force, and Thornley appeared on the same podium with Play On; given no mention, little chance, but a bonny winner in the end, by two lengths and a half from the ageless Canterbury veteran, Major Decision. Both came through from runs on the markers, Play On being three-deep, and Major Decision ahead of him, trailing pacemaker, Glenbogle. Thornley, a journeyman driver who has had few opportunities to drive horses of real class or in such classics as this, was a popular winner, with his smile so bright one almost had to be wearing sunglasses. "Fantastic...unbelievable. "I always thought he had the potential to do it, if he got the trip," he said. But neither Thornley nor owner/trainer Peter Lamb were hopeful once he'd drawn one, thinking he'd settle too deep and be clearing the traffic too late for any challenge to be fruitful. But, with a fast clip throughout and Delft and Lyell Creek caught at the back and still with much to do at the 800m, there was a chance for a sitter in the midfield to get home strongly - where Play On was camped. Matina H suddenly broke clear at the 250m and appeared home, but the steady hands of Derek Balle were no help as she trotted roughly and galloped soon after. By then, Play On was on the job, making his usual fast, late entry into the action and along the inner, where he usually appears. "He felt as if he was doing pacework. They knew we were coming, and I thought we were going to get her. "Things just worked out well for us. "I thought they would have to be good to get us tonight." Thornely admitted he had taken plenty of flak for the manner in which he had driven Play On, waiting on gaps near the end, but he made a defence for it. "I know I've been cursed for the way I've driven him, but that's what suits him." And that's just the way Play On earned his $125,000. Thornley, 32, was astounded Play On was neglected in the betting. "I thought he was a $15 shot, not as long as that," he said. Thornley's previous biggest win was a week earlier, with Bob's Blue Boy, in a $40,000 pacing heat of the Series, but he didn't get such a run in the Final. Among Thornley's support team was his partner Joanne Burrows, but she was not quite game enough to open her purse. "No, I didn't back him. "For a start, I used to put $5 a place on all Craig's drives, but I'd be broke by now if I'd kept going." The following articles were first published in New Zealand Harness Racing Weekly, 16th March 2005, and are reproduced here with permission.
Butt
chooses Lyell Creek for the Final Getting checked out of a $30,000 race when your horse is cruising is not everybody’s idea of a perfect race. But it suited Anthony Butt just fine last Friday. Butt suffered that fate when Lanson galloped in front of Lyell Creek, which saw the trotting legend roll into a gallop in the final heat of the Inter-Doms. Butt says Lyell Creek was cruising at the time, and could have unleashed a flashing late run had it not been for the incident. Yet he says he is happy to trade a potentially winning stake for an easy run. “Getting checked at that stage meant he didn’t really have a run,” said Butt. “He was cruising and I hadn’t had to put any pressure on him, so he got away with a very easy race. “Sure, it would have been nice to win another heat, but it means he goes into the Final with only two good hit-outs in the heats and that might help. “At his age he doesn’t need, or want, the hard racing the younger horses do, so I think he will be spot on for the Final.” Butt’s confidence has reached sky high levels, with not his wide second-line draw a concern. “In the trotters’ races there tend to be a lot of moves because the horses are so tough. And this week a lot of very good horses have drawn either wide or the second line. “I can see them going hard, and that will suit Lyell because these days he is at his best when saved for one run off a hot pace.” Butt did not take long to choose between Lyell Creek and his fellow millionaire stablemate Take A Moment as his Final drive last Friday, with the decision effectively made before the final round of heats. “The racing Lyell has had this season has been the difference. “We all know what a great horse Take A Moment is, but he is still very much on the way up and this race may have come about a month too soon for him. “Whereas I think Lyell is peaking at the right time.” Butt told the large crowd at Saturday night’s barrier draw that there would no favouritism towards his old mate in the race. “He (Take A Moment) has a top driver in Mark Jones, and as much as he has been a great horse to me I will have a job to do. “And this is the Inter-Dominions. I want to win it.” Butt acknowledged Delft as the horse to beat, being full of respect for the amazing summer of the giant trotter’s trainer Michelle Wallis. “Michelle is doing a huge job and obviously he is a very good horse. And he has Tony (Herlihy).” Delft was the $3.60 favourite starting this week, with Lyell Creek at $4.60. But the huge crowd expected at Alexandra Park on Friday night will know the name Lyell Creek a lot better, so sentimental betting will see him start close to favourite. The shortener after the barrier draw was Allegro Agitato, who came in from $8 to $6.50 with her barrier five giving her a great chance of wresting the early lead off Glenbogle. She may have been run down by passing-lane horses Martina H and Pompallier after leading in her last two heats, but looks the trotter mostly likely to enjoy the week off after her hard run on the opening night. * * * * * * * * * *
A race worth setting the
video for... “I’ve seen parts of it, that’s all,” he said. Brosnan still recalls the day, and the dazzling turn of speed that made No Response famous. “Dad and I talked about the race the night before, and where we’d probably be. “He said not to worry being back, he’ll bomb them in the straight. “We were back in the second division turning in, but that’s what he did. “He had huge high speed,” said Brosnan. Horses of No Response’s class are few and far between, and Brosnan has waited too long for the next one, but there are signs he has it – Pompallier. The 7-year-old is a solid choice just behind the favourites to win the $250,000 First Sovereign Trust Inter-Dominion Grand Final on Friday night. There is a good case to be made for him, including words from Brosnan with no budget: “He’s the second best horse I’ve had since No Response, full stop.” Just as comforting is his record at Alexandra Park – 13 wins, all on the track, and all over the 2700m trip of the Grand Final. He has not drawn well, though that’s not hugely important, and he’s managing the Series with a measure of growing maturity. Brosnan can see it. “He used to shake and shiver, but the travelling has helped him,” he said. It might all be enough to see him make a tidy charge into the finish of what looks a dangerously open race. “He’s never disappointed me, and always tries hard. He got squeezed on the first night, but I still think he has to improve a second or two on what he’s done so far.
“I quite like him as a stayer.
He’s a big horse, and he’s going to be an old horse before he gets a strong
horse.” In case it isn’t, he’s definitely making a tape of the race, just to be safe. * * * * * * * * * * First
Night - 4th March 2005 The following articles were first published in New Zealand Harness Racing Weekly, 9th March 2005, and are reproduced here with permission.
Herlihy faces
tough choice between trotting stars
You have to feel for poor Tony
Herlihy. Will it be Delft or will it be Allegro Agitato? Because
it will come down to that. Both horses won heats on the first night, with the performance by Allegro Agitato being the pick of them. She sat parked for the last 1200 metres, alongside Lyell Creek and with defending champion Sumthingaboutmaori on her back. “At the 800m, she wanted to take off on me,” said Herlihy. “She still went to the line well,” he said. It was a capital run, and she will only need to hold this form to provide Herlihy with a dilemma later in the week. “There is nothing set in concrete,” said her Oamaru trainer, Phil Williamson. “He might stay with her. We hope so, but it will be over to Tony,” he said. If Herlihy chooses Delft, Williamson will handle Allegro Agitato. If he goes the other way, Mark Purdon may get the call to drive Delft. Herlihy and Delft are old buddies. He trained the big horse to win two races at three for Snow Harris. He was then sold to Joe Mascara for $50,000, and had nine starts from the stable of Chris Hight. It was not a happy time for the horse. He won his second start at Freehold, then, says Mascara’s New Zealand agent John Curtin, the wheels fell off and he galloped in each of his next seven starts. “Whether it was immaturity or not, we don’t know,” said Curtin. “But Joe was happy to send him back to Tony’s.” And that’s where he started his training again. But Herlihy knew this wasn’t the place for him. “He was up to fast work when Tony felt beach training and running in a straight line would suit him best,” said Michelle Wallis, who received him at Waiuku in early September. “To me, that was the sign of good training. It takes iniative to do that,” she said. Anthony Butt said he was “happy” with the run of veteran Lyell Creek. “We haven’t drilled him, and he’ll get better.” Gavin Lang, the driver of Sumthingaboutmaori, said the mare had her chance to win. “She never shirked her duty at all, and I’m pretty happy with what she’s done.” |
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