Bouggie the nights away
‘‘THAT WAS the greatest ride in the history of the world.’’
Trainer and co-owner John Wheeler wasn’t interested in hearing about how he was a genius to have turned around the form of a horse who had finished only two of his five jumps races this season and not won a race for nearly two and a half years.
The master jumps trainer turned his interviewer straight on to the real reason Tobouggie Nights got a nose decision after the 4900 metres of the Pakuranga Hunt Cup Steeplechase at Ellerslie - the man on his back, Richard Eynon.
‘‘Richard rode that horse like a champion. You wouldn’t see a better ride. It was a great ride and I’m rapt for Richard.’’
And as Eynon, spent, slumped off the horse in the weigh-in stalls, Wheeler brought out one of his rare one-liners.
‘‘Do you want to come back and ride him in the northern?’’ Wheeler teased, as if he could have prised the jockey off the nine-year-old’s back for the $100,000 Great Northern Steeplechase in two weeks.
Eynon, who rode Tobouggie Nights when he last won a race, the 2012 Great Eastern at Oakbank in South Australia, was the one doing the entertaining later when he told the crowd how he’d come a long way since Wheeler first saw him ride in 2003.
The trainer approached him after he rode his first winner, congratulating him but saying he looked like two dogs going at it (censored!) in the saddle.
‘‘I remember thinking I’ll show this prick next time I come down here but it’s fair to say I’ve worked on my style a bit since then,’’ Eynon said.
‘‘Although, I was under the pump a bit out there today, I was a bit ugly near the finish, but I didn’t care.
‘‘He’s the kind of horse who will give you everything if you really get into him but if you just sit there, he does too.’’
Eynon said Tobouggie Nights was a real favourite of his. ‘
‘‘He looks like a son only a mother could like, he’s a funny shape but he’s my best mate.’’
Eynon, based in Australia, had not ridden the horse for 16 months, and said he didn’t know if he’d got there first yesterday.
‘‘I even gave him a couple of whacks after the post.
‘‘He’s had a few knocks and bumps in his life and had a fair bit thrown at him as a young horse but he still wants to win.
‘‘He’ll keep on coming in the northern and we’ll find out if he can last the trip. Only special horses can stay that distance.’’
Wheeler, who races the horse with New Plymouth couple John and Carol Lynskey, said he just loved the horse.
‘‘He’s such a great horse in every way. He’s a real gentleman who loves getting out there and going round.
‘‘You can hunt him, do everything with him.’’
Wheeler said Tobouggie Nights had had a number of hiccups at the start of the season, though, and every time he put him out in the paddock for a week he’d put on too much weight.
‘‘It’s hard to get them back on track when that happens,’’ Wheeler said.
You couldn’t bame punters for having given up on Tobouggie Nights. Check out his last five starts – lost rider in the Manawatu Steeples, pulled up in the Hawkes Bay Steeples, beat two in the Wellington Steeples, pulled up in a steeplechase at Awapuni and seventh of 10 in a chase at Te Aroha.
‘‘But he wasn’t far away at Te Aroha when he botched the second last and I knew that day he was getting close,’’ Wheeler said.
Tobouggie Nights had struggled after getting up in the weights – and a couple of seasons ago needed time out with a lesion on a tendon – but Wheeler said he believed he still had a big win in him.
‘‘I thought if he could run in the first three today he could nearly win the northern.
‘‘It would have been easier for him if he hadn’t won today but he’s in with a good chance.’’
Tobouggie Nights took his earnings to $370,000 yesterday, by far the most of any runner in the field, but it was his first payday for 18 starts since he won the Von Doussa-Great Eastern double at Oakbank in April, 2012 – a $230,000 windfall for his owners.
Runner-up Amanood Lad ran right up to the expectations of trainer Ben Foote, benefitting from a perfect Craig Thornton ride. Red Hot was best of the rest, 13 lengths away.