No stopping in-form pair
Catania and Keys are riding high
TALENTED jockey Georgie Catania has been riding the crest of a wave and that continued at Elwick on Sunday when she landed a treble.
Catania won aboard the Scott Brunton-trained Hot Wired, who delivered one of the runs of the day, and she closed with a race-to-race double for trainer Tegan Keys, who saddled up Flourishing Future and Minute Repeater.
The win by outsider Minute Repeater in the open handicap caught most punters by surprise but not Keys.
Minute Repeater ($31) gave his rivals a galloping lesson on his way to a halflength win over stablemate Fragment ($3.20) and Geegee Trendsetter ($7.60). The 10year-old gelding delivered one of his best efforts to land the prize and it was an emotional Keys who led the son of Danbird back to the unsaddling enclosure.
“The horse pretty much saved my life (as a trainer),” Keys said as she held back tears of joy.
“He’s such an old marvel and he still carries on like he’s a two-year-old. That’s why he is still racing.
“He’s a bit of an idiot to train but he’s been a ripper.”
Minute Repeater is owned by Ayana Nishitani, wife of talented trainer and jockey Yassy Nishitani, who trained the gelding early in the horse’s career.
“Yassy had him for a short while but I’ve had him most of the time and all of his 15 wins have been with me,” Keys said.
“He is a genuine legend in my eyes. He’s got his quirks but when you train a horse for so long, you get to know their idiosyncrasies and I know every one of his.
“He is probably getting close to retirement but it’s so hard to take them away from racing when they love it as much as he does.”
Flourishing Future ($17) showed her rivals a clean pair of heels on her way to an impressive all-the-way win in the Hazelbros Benchmark 60 Handicap over 1400m, holding on to score narrowly from Stelladoni and two-year-old Lady of Fortune.
Hot Wired ($3.40) missed the start by a length and Catania
had to urge the threeyear-old forward and he quickly made up ground to settle midfield.
The son of Pluck continued to work his way towards the leaders but upon straightening was well behind Golden Egg ($3.60), who had tried to pinch a winning break.
Outsider Little Hot Missile ($21), from the John Luttrell stable, was sweeping down the outside and looked set to overhaul the leader.
However, just when he was about to storm to the lead, Hot Wired found a bit extra under strong hands-andheels riding from Catania.
Hot Wired was one of the best efforts on what was the last meeting to be held at Elwick for nine weeks, which will give the track time to recover from the wear and tear it has endured following the announcement that racing in the state would resume after being shut down on April 2.