Cambridge duo set record
It might have been only a midweek R65 sprint which Dentelle won but it was enough
Team work has been the key factor behind the allconquering season of Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman. The Cambridge trainers rewrote turf history at Matamata yesterday, when one of the lesser lights of the stable, Dentelle, provided them with their record 112th winner of 2014-15.
Their tally surpassed by one the 2011-12 performance of John Sargent, who subsequently closed his Matamata operation to concentrate on his Sydney stable.
“A month ago I wouldn’t have said we would get the record,” Forsman said. “It’s hard training winners at this time of the season, but things have worked in our favour and it’s all credit to the staff and the owners.
“We’ve also had the right riders and Matt Cameron has done a great job for us. From the vets to the farriers as well, it’s been a massive team effort.”
Forsman was on course at Matamata to savour the moment with his partner on holiday. “It’s the culmination of a lifetime of work for Murray to have built the stable up to this. Something we also pride ourselves on is doing our best for our owners and that shows in our strike rate.”
Baker and Forsman’s 112 winners have come at a remarkable rate of 4.82, the best of any trainer in the top 70 on the premiership.
They have also dominated on the score of black type success with 17, better than double their closest rivals.
Among their flagship performers have been the dual group one New Zealand and ATC Derby winner Mongolian Khan, the New Zealand 2000 Guineas Turn Me Loose, Diademe, successful in the NZ Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes, New Zealand Stakes winner Sakhee’s Soldier and Dal Cielo, victorious in the Diamond Stakes.
Missing runs at Te Rapa last weekend prompted a change of plans for the Mark Brooks-trained steeplechasing duo Goosebumps and Joking.
The pair, who lost their opportun- ity to race at Te Rapa through a weather-enforced abandonment, will now contest the Thurston Contracting Steeplechase (4200m) at Awapuni today, a race Brooks was grateful to be able to support.
“They were ready to go Saturday before the races were called off and that’s what led to the change in plans,” the Cambridge trainer said. Missing Te Rapa might lead to Joking not contesting a feature event, but Brooks still intends for the Awapuni race to be a Grand National Steeples leadup for Goosebumps.
“It depends on what he does down there but he could keep going south for the Grand National at Riccarton. We’ll just play it by ear but we know he’ll just keep whacking away so the extra distance shouldn’t worry him,” Brooks said.
Goosebumps was second to Kick Back in a restricted open steeplechase at Te Aroha earlier this month, beaten five lengths, though 31⁄ lengths clear of Joking. “He just met a better horse on the day.
“Joking was a bit unlucky, though. He just got a bit far back and had too much to do. He should have beaten Goosebumps and could perhaps have beaten the winner, too. We’ll see what he does at Awapuni but he’s only 5 so he’s got time on his side.
“I had thought of taking him down to Riccarton for the Koral Steeples if he had run well at Te Rapa but now it’s probably too quick a backup to ask him to do that.
“He’s an outside chance of going to the Pakuranga Hunt Cup if he went well this week.”
Outside Goosebumps and Joking, Brooks has high hopes for Jack Romanov, who will head to Te Aroha on August 9 in search of back-to-back wins in the restricted open steeplechase there before tackling the Pakuranga Hunt Cup (4900m) at Ellerslie on August 22 and the Great Northern Steeplechase ( 6400m) a fortnight later.