86-year-old trains first winner in 20 years
It was almost 20 years since 86-year-old Cliff Goss trained a winner but chances are the next one is just around the corner.
The Tauranga horseman prepared Happy Venture to win a race at Ellerslie in the 1997/98 season ridden by Alan Peard, and he made a welcome return to the winner’s circle at Te Rapa on Sunday.
To set the record straight he hadn’t had many runners between times after relinquishing his trainer’s licence at the end of that season when he had two winners.
Pinnacle’s win under top apprentice jockey Sam Weatherley in the Randal Judd Memorial (1200m) was a huge thrill for Goss who decided to put some of his time into training a horse as a retirement hobby.
‘‘I thought, well, you’ve got to do something to keep going,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s something to fill in the day.’’
Horses are what he knows best. He’s had a life-long involvement starting with a jockey apprenticeship under, ‘‘one of the best’’ Eric Ropiha.
‘‘His horses always looked magnificent – he was a master trainer,’’ Goss said.
He later advanced to training, initially as understudy to Rex Beale at Palmerston North before branching out on his own.
‘‘We nearly won the Auckland Cup,’’ he remembers. ‘‘Ma Cherie ran second.’’
His career took him to Macau for several years before a return to Palmerston North and a shift to the warmer climate of Tauranga where he had a team of horses before he retired.
Between times he worked in the freezing works but the lure of the thoroughbred has always been there.
Around the time he retired Angela Little was riding track work for him and helping out around the stable.
Little went off to work in Japan, eventually returning home where she caught up with her old boss.
‘‘She was pestering me to get a horse,’’ Goss said. He relented and the old team was back in business.
‘‘Angela is a very good rider and loves the horses – she’s a big help,’’ Goss said.
Before Pinnacle came along, Goss won a trial with He’s Serios in 2015 before he sold the majority share to clients of Lee Freedman in Victoria.
When Freedman recently took up a contract in Singapore the horse moved to the stable of his brother, Anthony.
The son of Waikato Stud sire Rios has won three races so far with Goss having some fun with the 25 per cent he kept.
With the proceeds of that horse’s sale he went looking for a replacement and found Pinnacle.
All going to plan, big things are in store for the Pins 3-year-old.
He’ll head to Ellerslie for his next start and if he runs well he’ll tackle the best of his age group in the Group I Levin Classic.
‘‘He’s in the Levin Classic but he’d have to win the next one pretty well to have a go,’’ Goss said.
‘‘To get one as good as this joker is hard to do. I’ve been in it all my life and they’re not easy to find.’’
Goss was willing to sell Pinnacle after he won a Te Teko trial but the horse failed the stringent Hong Kong vet test.
‘‘I could have sold him to Australia after that but when my wife passed away I decided to keep him so I had something to do,’’ he said.
‘‘I get up every morning at six, muck out his stable and get him ready for Angela to ride, than I’m back for a couple of hours in the afternoon to look after him.’’ Not bad for an 86-year-old. ‘‘Age is only a number,’’ he laughs.
‘‘I probably won’t get another one after this joker – this one will see me out.’’
And if he runs down the track at his next start?
‘‘It’s just another race,’’ he said. ‘‘If he goes good, he goes good – I don’t worry too much these days.’’