Marcoola the comeback king
MARCOOLA was crowned the comeback king, racing to an emphatic win in the group 1 Dominion at Addington Raceway yesterday.
The trotter handed West Melton trainer Ken Ford backtoback wins in the $300,000 3200m feature after he produced Amaretto Sun to win last year with his granddaughter, Sheree Tomlinson, in the sulky.
This time Marcoola provided Ford’s son, Clint, with his biggest driving victory as they cleared out to win by four lengths.
Clint Ford, a fulltime earthmoving contractor and selfconfessed driving novice, threw caution to the wind after a slow first lap.
‘‘When we got into the back straight I thought, bugger it, I’m off.
‘‘I thought I’d try and come out on the bend out of the straight and flush some of the good drivers out, Anthony Butt, Tony Herlihy and what not.
‘‘I’m probably not experienced enough to know whether we were going too slow, but I felt like my horse was nice and relaxed and always travelling.’’
Marcoola launched himself with speed around the field and started to establish what would be a racewinning break. By the point of the home bend he was lonely in front.
‘‘I thought someone might be coming as we got to the top of the straight, and I kept looking back, but noone was there,’’ Ford said.
The victory capped an incredible comeback by Marcoola, who ran a shocking last in last year’s New Zealand Trotting FreeForAll.
Ford, who owns the horse with his father, then pulled the pin on the horse’s season and sent him for an extended spell.
‘‘Last year he was very crook, that horse. I don’t think people realise how crook he was. I certainly didn’t realise at the time. He had a quarter crack in each front foot and I think he might have had stomach ulcers.
‘‘I turned him out the day after cup day last year and brought him back in six months to the day. He had three or four months’ jogging and then I’ve slowly brought him back by spacing his races.’’
Australian visitor Kyvalley Blur finished strongly for second as the rest of the field battled out the minor placings. Lemond took third, just ahead of the favourite, Speeding Spur.