$401-shot Broughty Ferry stuns Geelong punters
WOW. What more can you say?
Mornington’s Grant Walker broke a drought lasting almost four years, training $401 outsider Broughty Ferry to a stunning victory at Geelong yesterday.
The five-year-old five-start maiden won like a good horse first up for 57 weeks, saluting by half a length to leave punters on the floor.
Well, except for Walker, that is.
“I went too early. I got 150-1. But who cares?” Walker joked post-race.
“(She’s) always shown ability. I’ve had numerous setbacks with her.
“I have to blame myself on most (of those) occasions. She’s just got better with age.
“I probably overtrained her previously. She’s been a very hard horse to get fit, but anyway things have fallen into place today and I’m thrilled to bits.”
Had Walker shopped around, he could have got as much as $420 on Betfair to win the Viatek Maiden Plate (1107m).
Walker’s last time in the winner’s stall was at Moonee Valley in September 2014 when Rememba Howe got up at $26.
Broughty Ferry is Walker’s only horse in work and he had only been to the races 11 times since Rememba Howe’s victory.
Winning jockey Jack Martin said Walker was still a presence at Mornington trackwork regardless.
“I see him down at Mornington most mornings before work, working his horse,” Martin said.
“The horse actually worked with one of my bosses’ (Pat Carey) horses (This Girls On Fire) that ran on Thursday night and just got beat. The form sort of suggests it was out of its league today, but we got a lovely run.
“We had cover and were going really well at the top of the straight and was too good.
“Last preparation I trialled it a couple of times and it trialled up really well. Its first trial this prep it was seven lengths last and really struggled ... I told Grant it sorted needs to pick up its game and improve a little bit to be competitive in a maiden.”
Broughty Ferry’s family has been in the Walker family for a long time now.
He trained her grand-dam Wolfhound and dam Road To Dundee.
In a weird coincidence, Road To Rundee also broke her maiden at Geelong over 1100m. That win in 2006 came at a modest starting price of $4.
“It’s a great thrill, I can tell you,” Walker said.
“It’s great when you’ve had that connection for so long.”