Battle Time is back
BATTLE Time proved once again that in racing, form is temporary but class is permanent.
The son of Battle Paint was allowed to run around at odds of $4 in the five-horse $40,000 Chairman’s Trophy (1400m) at Ellerslie on Saturday and rewarded the faithful.
Topweight Close Up was expected to prevail despite his impost, but it was left up to the Dawn and Peter Williams stablemates Brilliant Shine (second) and Fire Jet (third) to offer the most opposition with Close Up battling into fourth.
Battle Time has been a great performer for his owner and breeder Allan Hayward and Cambridge trainers Tim and Margaret Carter as a Group I performer has now had 27 starts for four wins, nine placings and is the winner of over $350,000.
He hadn’t won since taking the Group II Couplands Mile at Riccarton last November so there was a sense of relief around Saturday’s success.
‘‘He’s shown his class today,’’ Margaret Carter said. ‘‘ Thank goodness - he hasn’t won since November.’’
Jockey Vinnie Colgan has ridden Battle Time in 12 of his starts, winning three times and placing in another five and thought a win was close at hand after the 4-yearold entire ran well for third at his previous start.
‘‘I thought after I rode him last start at Te Rapa that he would be hard to beat today,’’ Colgan said. ‘‘He handled the track quite nice - it’s very deep and holding.’’
Battle Time appeared to be cruising in second spot during the running, but appeared to battle slightly early in the run home before asserting his superiority taking 1:34.90 for the trip.
‘‘It’s been in the back of our minds to put him in the paddock until the spring,’’ Carter said. ‘‘But we will have to take a look at things after this.
‘‘He’s a very good doer, it’s hard to keep weight off him, so it sometimes helps to keep him in work. We’ll see.’’ TRISH DUNELL PHOTOGRAPHY
Tim Carter was praising Tauranga chiropractor Chris Bell for the work he did on the horse midweek.
‘‘We’ve got a bit to thank him for - he got the horse right and made a big difference but I was quite surprised how the horse handled that ground today.’’
The Hawke’s Bay Bay spring carnival Group I features and another crack at the Couplands are new season targets for Battle Time.
‘‘He won’t go right through the Hawke’s Bay series - he’ll be in the 1400 metre and possibly the 1600 then we are thinking we will go back to Riccarton,’’ he said. ‘‘Before that he’ll warm up in the Foxbridge Plate [at Te Rapa].’’
In the day’s other feature tough old campaigner Smedley made it two wins in a row scoring a narrow victory over Wannabefamous in the $40,000 Cornwall Handicap (2200m).
A nose separated them after a hard slog taking 2:36.51 but trainer Clayton Stephenson has never questioned the resolve of his 8-year-old son of Colombia he co-owns with his mother and the estate of his father.
The Cornwall win in the hands of Mark Du Plessis took Smedley’s earnings to a few dollars short of $200,000 for his connections.
He won a Rating 85 last weekend and has now won nine and in his current form more are in the offing.
‘‘He tries hard and goes well on these testing tracks,’’ Stephenson said. ‘‘He never gives up.’’
Wannabefamous is knocking on the door of an overdue win, his last coming in July 2014 but he’s always competitive on testing ground.
After travelling comfortably on speed, favourite Doiknowyou battled on for third one and a-quarter lengths behind Wannabefamous.