Jewels success for Otago star
REIGNING Otago horse of the year Eamon Maguire’s New Zealand Cup campaign officially began after he scored his second group 1 victory at the Harness Jewels in Cambridge on Saturday.
The 4yrold pacer was required to do little more than he has done in trackwork at Westwood beach after being given a beautiful run in the oneone by his cotrainer and driver, Natalie Rasmussen.
Rasmussen and training partner Mark Purdon have been so impressed by the horse since taking over his training from Graeme Anderson in April they do not want to let the pacer out of their sight.
‘‘I have jokingly said to Graeme, you’re not getting him back,’’ Rasmussen said in her postrace interview.
She praised Anderson for developing Eamon Maguire into a group 1winning pacer.
‘‘We can’t take any of the credit for this horse. Graeme has done everything with him and he couldn’t get away to come north and he left him with us.
‘‘He is just a beautiful horse.’’ Anderson told NZ Harness News the horse was likely to return to the All Stars stable for a New Zealand Cup tilt after he spells.
‘‘We’ll definitely go after the New Zealand Cup. He’ll spell now, and we’ll have a discussion, but I’d say he will go back to Mark and Natalie for the entire preparation.
‘‘I can’t go away for four or five weeks at a time with him and that would be required to race him in the spring.
‘‘If I was training him for the cup, I’d want him the whole prep, so it’s only fair Mark and Natalie get him for the whole time.
‘‘I just come to have a drink and not get my white shirt dirty now.’’
Eamon Maguire is raced by Brian Sceats, Stephen Pulley, Tony Gow, Ray Chalkin and Pauline Gillan, along with his former trainer.
‘‘They’re a group that have shown confidence in me, firstly with Titan Banner and more recently with this guy and our winner the other day, Motu Top Mach,’’ Anderson told NZ Harness News.
‘‘They’ve got the bug and it’s good; success breeds success.’’
Titan Banner swept all before him in the leadup to last year’s New Zealand Cup and had two successful stints in the PurdonRasmussen camp before breaking down in Sydney.
Eamon Maguire is a totally different horse and, as a twotime group 1 winner, much better placed to start a New Zealand Cup run than Titan Banner was earlier this season.
‘‘He’s always been a bettergaited horse than Titan Banner and has a lot more topend speed.
‘‘Probably not as tough at this stage, but that didn’t matter today.
‘‘Barrier draws win races and I think if Star Galleria [second] had our run today, the placings would have been reversed.
‘‘We come from a pretty docile harness area in Dunedin, but we’re all really passionate about the game. They’re all enthusiasts down there and wholly into the game.’’ — Additional reporting NZ Harness News