It's been a quiet couple of months for us on the horsey front. Emily has been having 'time out' and little Kurty has been practising for his second (official) birthday ...
But Emily's holiday came to an end last week, and she came up to Rangiora for a trial before her return to racing. The record shows that she finished 5th. But it was an encouraging 5th. Jimmy dropped her well back off the pace, and only pushed the button in the final straight, at which the wee girl raced up through the gears and made up an unprintable amount of ground before the line. She was clearly ready to go racing. So, what did Howie-our-trainer have in mind?
Ashburton. Groan. In a quarter of a century racing horses, and 54 wins, I have never won a race at Ashburton. And Emily? In her 24 races she has only disgraced herself once. And it was at Ashburton. I groaned even more deeply when the fields for 'Magic Monday' (called thus as one of the most important lead up races to NZ Cup Week) went up ..
A full field of sixteen runners. And Emily had the visitor's draw ... number 14. However, the tipster wasn't worried. Her trial had been noticed ..
I had stopped for a sit down and a cup of tea in the Kiosk (best race-course sarnies, worst race-course loo) when I realised the sixteen starters were circling in readiness. Sixteen trotters? Someone would play up ... I had time to hobble to the grandstand ... I hadn't. Sixteen well-behaved trotters lined up .. Emily at the rear, giving 10 metres at least to the two favourites .. and I and my walking stick were stranded on the lawn!
She settled in 8th or 9th place, three, then two wide, as Kawhi rolled the field along ... tucked in behind the favourite ...
The journey home went lightly. We even stopped for nibbles at the new Islington Tavern. Then Gerolstein, and time to celebrate by filling our trophy with Pegasus Bay chardonnay ... not a wine for every day! And this bottle had been sitting in my cupboard awaiting the day when ...
On the other side of town, the heroine of the day was getting her reward. A nice massage ...
Next weekend, Kaikoura. Twelve years since I last raced at Kaikoura. It was with Emily's great-uncle, Seppl. And he won ....
Of course, we don't expect Emily to win twice in a row. Do we ....?
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