Far North horses battle it out
LESS than a length separated the pain and pleasure of two different sets of Far North ownership groups in the 2018 Ramornie Handicap at Grafton on Wednesday afternoon.
Glamour former Tolga based horse Tyzone, owned by Cairns Jockey Club president Tom Hedley, was overrun by new stablemate and Atherton owned gelding Havasay in the final strides of the $160,000 premier NSW country sprint.
Havasay has a 15 per cent ownership share in Atherton with father and son combination Bob and Josh Watson, who have claimed a number of Far North country cups over the journey as owners.
Havasay, a winner of eight career races from 31 starts, was purchased as a $70,000 yearling and after Wednesday’s victory, has career stake earnings of $472,325.
“It was great on Wednesday,” the younger Watson said.
“I watched the race while I was at work on my phone.
“We have got an earthmoving business in Atherton and we have got a bit on at the minute so I had to watch the race while working.”
Havasay was transferred to Gold Coast trainer Toby Edmonds’ care eight weeks ago. He was previously in the yard of Brisbane-based Liam Birchley.
“Liam has always had a big opinion of the horse,” Watson said. “The horse has been awesome for us.”
Watson expected the horse to have a freshen up and target a race at the Magic Millions carnival. Star four-year-old Tyzone just missed another opportunity to claim a blacktype race after finishing second in last month’s Eye Liner Stakes.