Pinetree pride at Pukekura
ANYONE wanting to pay tribute to the late Sir Colin ‘Pinetree’ Meads in Saturday’s ITM Interprovincial Challenge would have had their pockets full after Mangaroa Flo Jo paid more than $40 after her shock win in the feature race at Pukekura.
There was more than a couple of references to Pinetree whenever the King Country colours were shown in the preliminaries and the 7-year-old daughter of High Chaparral did her adoptive province proud fresh-up over the 1600m in the $50,000 rating 85 race.
Having not raced since May 21 when she disappointed in an open handicap at Rotorua, Mangaroa Flo Jo pleased Cambridge trainer Graham Thomas, who had been allocated King Country’s colours in the race after no other horse from the province entered, with her recent trial at Taupo.
Thomas said the horse had shown him that she was on track to resume but he was nevertheless surprised that she managed to win.
‘‘She had been good all week but we still did not expect her to do that,’’ he said.
Thomas paid tribute to the work new stable employee Mathew Gillies had done with his small team after the former jumps jockey started working for him.
‘‘He’s done a great job, he really has, I’ve seen a lot of improvement in the horse.’’
Thomas and Gillies have submitted an application to form a training partnership.
Mangaroa Flo Jo settled worse than midfield after North Auckland representative Kitaya set a cracking pace up front.
Winning jockey Anna Jones then moved forward approaching the bend and latched on to a pack of horses before she worked her way off the fence at the 300.
Once Jones had Mangaroa Flo Jo balanced she found a real kick to power past leader Meritaggio to win by one and a quarter lengths while Hawke’s Bay entrant She’s Poppy maintained her consistent recent form by finishing two lengths further back in third.
Jones did not share Thomas’ surprise at the victory.
‘‘I’ve always had confidence in her,’’ she said. ‘‘Especially when she’s fresh, she always gives her all and she gave me a great win last season but she got a bit tired by the end of her campaign.’’
Jones said Managaroa Flo Jo had trained on really well since that Taupo trial and gave her a great feel going around to the start.
‘‘She’s a real staying mare so it was a case of just letting her breath and I was lucky they went so hard early, I was able to catch them without too much hassle.’’ ANDY JACKSON/STUFF
‘ She had been good all week but we still did not expect her to do that’ GRAHAM THOMAS
Thomas was unsure where he would be heading to next with the horse, with no firm plans in place.
It was a second time King Country had triumphed in the unique race, the last time being in 2011 when Ourforeignminister triumphed.
Meanwhile, evergreen galloper Taurus enjoyed the improving track conditions at Pukekura to win the ITM PSP Open Handicap on Saturday.
In the hands of Jonathan Riddell, the 9-year-old son of No Excuse Needed got up late to nab Galaxy Miss and claim his 11th win from 67 starts for Wanganui trainers Evan and JJ Rayner.
Evan Rayner felt before the race that Taurus had come back in excellent order from Christchurch where he could only finish eighth in the Winter Cup before finishing third in the open handicap on the last day of the Grand National Carnival.
That confidence proved on the mark off the back of a good ride by Riddell who handled Taurus ideally under his 59kg.