Bob of the head racing’s big decider
The bob of the head is one of those things in racing that can work for you or agin you.
Last Saturday at Rotorua’s Arawa Park racecourse it went in favour of Matamata training partners Graham Richardson and Gavin Parker when Wildlfower got her head down at exactly the right time to win the $50,000 Jakkalbery Classic by a nose from Cambridge galloper Snow Secret.
A day later at Hastings the boot was on the other foot for Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards as Te Akau stable star Gingernuts went down by a short head to home track hero Wait A Sec in the Gr. 1 Livamol Classic. That sixinch margin meant the $100,000 difference between first and second stake-money.
Then again at Te Rapa on Monday, the photo-finish camera was unable to separate the principals in not one but two races. As Matamata’s two jockeys who go by the name Sam – Collett and Weatherley – readily admit- ted after deadheating in the second of those on Nothing Trivial and Chachi Arcola, sharing a win is way better than having to settle for second, as Sam Weatherly had to do at Rotorua on Snow Secret.
Wildflower’s Rotorua victory capped a good week for the Richardson-Parker stable after wins with Tiptronic at Te Aroha on Wednesday and Secret Stash at Tauranga on Friday.
It also meant a feature race double for Wildflower’s ownerbreeder Sir Peter Vela, who had won the Matamata Cup a week earlier with another well-bred member of his large racing string, Cote D’Or.
‘‘It was great to get that win with Wildflower as she’d had no luck in her three previous starts and hadn’t missed out by much in any of them,’’ said Graham Richardson.
‘‘We had thought about running her in a lower grade race at Tauranga the day before, but then we figured she wouldn’t have been out of place at Rotorua. It was a black-type race, so to get that win was a huge bonus.’’
Even though Gingernuts was unable to add a fourth Group One victory in the Livamol Classic, there is still a strong chance that he will head to Melbourne for the A$2 million Emirates Classic on the final day of Melbourne Cup week.