Trainers reveal unorthodox road to Cup bid
Having three runners in today’s Group III New Zealand Cup (3200m) at Riccarton is testament to the success of Peter Corbett and Terrill Charles’ unconventional training methods.
The couple prepare a small team from their Mid-Canterbury farm, preferring to work their horses on the road rather than the racetrack.
The pair, who have been together for some 40 years, will saddle Dee And Gee, Owen Patrick and King Of The Dance in today’s feature staying contest, all three horses sent south because they weren’t showing enough for their previous northern trainers.
‘‘Dee And Gee, she couldn’t get warm when we got her. When we first galloped her, Terrill said ‘send this bloody thing back’,’’ Corbett recalled.
‘‘We ran her in a four-horse trial and she did nothing, but Tanya Jonker said she’d ride her in her next race. She bolted in and she hasn’t looked back since.’’
Dee And Gee has now won five of her 35 starts, among her highlights a second placing in this year’s Group III Wellington Cup (3200m) at Trentham and fourth placing in the Group I Auckland Cup (3200m) at Ellerslie as well as winning last season’s Listed Metropolitan Trophy Handicap (2500m) at Riccarton.
She ran second in the same race at Riccarton last weekend to set up a shot at the New Zealand Cup, for which she is a $5.50 second favourite
‘‘Dee And Gee, she couldn’t get warm when we got her. When we first galloped her, Terrill [Charles] said ‘send this bloody thing back’.’’ Peter Corbett
behind Metropolitan winner Duplicity at $4.50.
Last-start Banks Peninsula Cup
(2200m) winner Owen Patrick is at
$34 while King Of The Dance is at $51. ‘‘Having three runners in the Cup isn’t something we’ve really thought about. It’s just the way it’s worked out,’’ Corbett said.
‘‘King Of The Dance is probably a year away but he’s fronted up on the way through so we thought we’d give him a go. He’ll be a stronger horse next year but we’ll take the chance.’’
The key to getting to this juncture, Corbett and Charles believe, is their training methods.
While the couple are happy to float horses to Timaru for fast work at Phar Lap Raceway, they prefer to vary their training with longer, slower work along the roads of Mayfield and Mt Somers.
They have several training blocks in the area, a few that require the horses to walk down a shingle road and cross the Ashburton River as part of the route.
‘‘They are working without even realising they are working,’’ Charles said.
‘‘Sometimes a horse can go stale just working at the racetrack and we enjoy training the horses this way just as much as they do. We’ve got seven or eight different-sized blocks but on average they would work 6km a day and up to 16km on a slow-work day.’’