Houtzen to ‘run a hell of a race’
HOUTZEN, the blindingly fast filly with the mistaken identity, is poised to cap a fairytale 12 months for Gold Coast trainer Toby Edmonds and shock the world in today’s $10 million Everest at Royal Randwick.
Houtzen – part-owned by Cairns accountant Darren Halpin – won this year’s Magic Millions in a four-win sequence that had her rated Australia’s fastest two-year-old.
She returned to winning form last start at Moonee Valley, cementing her Everest slot.
Houtzen has been a horse of a lifetime for most of her owners, even though her name was meant to be slightly different.
During the naming process, Edmonds’ son Trent entered the name “Doutzen” in honour of the Dutch model Doutzen Kroes, given the equine version was regarded as a bit of a stunner herself.
Trent sent his father the text to enter the name as a candidate and it was the name drawn out of the hat.
The only problem was that auto-correct changed Doutzen to Houtzen and the paperwork had been entered before the error had been discovered. No one’s complaining now. Houtzen is the winner of $1.55 million and one of the fastest horses in the country.
How long she can sustain that speed for will be determined today. The marketplace fears Houtzen will be found out, marking her a $19 chance, but Edmonds has an inkling she will run better than many expect. “I know it’s a highpressure race and there’s a lot of Group 1 winners,” he said.
“Our biggest attribute is that we have 51kg, we’ve got a soft barrier and she’s ready to go. I can’t have her any better.
“She will run a hell of a race, I’m telling you.”
In two Melbourne runs this time in, Houtzen hasn’t been as nimble early as she was as a two-year-old, but being back in Sydney and going her preferred clockwise direction is a big plus.
“Jeff Lloyd (her regular rider) made that comment to me a couple of weeks ago,” Ed- monds said. “When we galloped her the Sydney way on Tuesday the track rider said the same thing, that she’s so much more comfortable on that leg.”
Houtzen’s emergence is just part of what has been a memorable 12 months for Edmonds, who established himself as one of the best “strike rate” trainers in the country last season.
“It’s been the best period of our training career and we need to build on it from here on in for many years to come,” Edmonds said.
“I’ve also turned our business acumen around a bit, so we’re going to probably be in a position in January to be aggressive at the (Magic Millions) sale if we need to.”