’Bludger’ notches first win since 2017
FAR North sprinter Hot Saga showed some ticker to get the chocolates at a big price in his first run back from a spell at Cairns on Tuesday.
The $26 pop stormed home in the Open Handicap (1250m) to snatch victory from Confronting by 0.1 lengths in the eighth race of the afternoon.
Prior to Tuesday, the former Cairns Cup contender had not won a race since June 2017, when he defeated Ranked to claim the year’s NQ Cup at Townsville, and placed in six of 21 starts since.
Despite a less-than-ideal start on Tuesday – he began awkwardly, shifted out and also bumped into another runner – and being second-last in the run at the 400m mark, Hot Saga boomed home to get the win that had been eluding him and trainer Fred Wieland for more than 18 months.
The eight-year-old gelding was given a spell after failing in last year’s Innisfail Cup, but Wieland said the horse, which had a reputation as being a bit of a bludger, had returned in “real good condition”.
“He just got to a stage where he wasn’t really trying,” he said. “I had two or three different people ride him and they said he wasn’t really putting it in on race day. I think he thought he was retired.
“He’s been a really happy horse ever since he’s come back. Last week, he worked as good as any horse I’ve ever had in my life.”
After Hot Saga’s race-winning run on Tuesday, Wieland and jockey Amanda Thomson said they were thrilled with his efforts, despite being boxed in.
“It was good to see him get down and have a bit of a go,” said Thomson.
“In the past, when he thinks he’s done enough, he’ll just stop, but today he did everything right for once.”
Wieland, who also owns Hot Saga with wife Lyn, said he hoped the horse could get back to his best, with his next start likely to be a step-up to 1400m in an Open Handicap at Cairns on March 16.
“He’s been a good horse to me and my wife,” he said.
“We only paid $15,000 for him as an unbroken yearling in 2011 and he’s nearly won $400,000 now, so he’s been pretty handy.”