Steely Man scored the second victory and the biggest cheque of his career when he took out the $75,000 NZB Ready To Run Sale Trainers Series 1600 (1600m) at Ellerslie on Tuesday.
Owned by harness racing trainer John Dickie, the five-year-old races in his familiar silks and is trained by his partner Lynda German, who was rapt to see her grey gelding first past the post at the Melbourne Cup Day meeting.
The son of Cambridge Stud based Embellish showed plenty of promise last season when placing in his first three starts before his breakthrough win over a mile at Ellerslie in December. He went on to run fifth in both the $1 million Aotearoa Classic (1600m) and $350,000 Sir Patrick Hogan Karapiro Classic (1600m) before heading for a spell.
He returned to finish unplaced in his first two starts this preparation over 1300m and 1400m and German made some slight changes to his work and gear before heading to Ellerslie this week where he was competing over his preferred mile distance.
Steely Man settled towards the rear of the field for jockey Matt Cartwright, who was content to sit off the pace. He had the majority of the 17-strong field before him when turning for home, but Cartwright was able to weave a passage through the pack to find clear running room towards the centre of the track and Steely Man showed a blistering turn of foot over the final 100m to run over the top of his rivals to score by a long neck over Skymax.
“I was absolutely over the moon,” German said.
“I made a few changes by adding the blinkers and a barrier blanket and I changed his work just a little bit and I was really happy with him going into it.
“He had raced against some of those horses before and I think that extra 200m was the difference as well, it was more to his liking.”
German is now looking forward to stepping him up in grade later this month.
“As long as he pulls up well, which he seems to this morning, he seems happy enough, there is a rating 75 mile at Pukekohe on the 22nd (of October),” she said. “That seems like the most logical plan.”
German is hoping she can bring the luck of the Irish with her to Avondale on Thursday where she will line-up Four Leaf Clover in the Entain/NZB Insurance Pearl Series (1600m).
The four-year-old daughter of Darci Brahma is raced by brother-and-sister duo Clodagh and Tommy Coughlan, with the mare coming into German’s care when the former moved to Auckland to work for New Zealand Bloodstock.
“Clodagh and I are great friends,” German said. “We were both friends with Richard Bright, who passed away, and we formed a relationship when she moved up to Karaka from Cambridge.
“She started coming out and helping us because she works for NZB and didn’t have any contact with the horses.
“She bought this filly as a weanling and she was with Barry Donoghue, who did all the early work with her. Now that Clodagh has moved up to Karaka, she wanted to be more hands on with her. She comes to the track every day, so she is a big part of her preparation.”
Four Leaf Clover has had two unplaced starts to date and German said they have been battling foot issues with the mare, but she believes they are now on top of them and she expects to see an improved performance over a mile on Thursday.
“She is a lovely little filly that has had to take quite a bit of time because she hasn’t got the best legs, she has got quite an offset knee,” German said.
“She has never had any leg issues whatsoever, but we have had a few foot issues with her. We raced her at Taupo and she missed a trial because she had a foot abscess, so Taupo was more like a trial, and she blew out accordingly.
“It is a tough little field, those Pearl Series are always quite tough races, but I am happy with her going into it.” – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
