EMILY: the new chapter

 

Emily. Our little sweetheart. All rugged up for last winter ... at Gerolstein. Why is/was she at Gerolstein? She was born at Phoebe Farms, collected from there by our late, very dear trainer and friend Murray Edmonds, and at his death she went to Howie down the road. Although her mother and grandmother lived most of their lives here, she had never seen Gerolstein. Well, I guess you could say her 'visit' was the blank page between two chapters.

Last season we came to a crisis point with the wee mare. After an early career full of spark and spunk, and a whole series of wins and placings in the Canterbury area, something went wrong. She seemed to be not the same gallant wee thing. Even our classy drivers jumped off. Something was wrong. 

Our merry little group of owners, too, was going through a tough patch. One evening we sat in that noisy room at Addington, prior to her race  .. six of us, and Wendy was the only one not carrying a walking stick! And there was a split of opinion in the ranks. Frank and John wanted to keep the mare in Canterbury, where they could, understandably, watch her run. I wanted to send her south, away from Addington (sorry, Addington at night is a nightmare to me) to race against a different group of horses, easier? perhaps a little. There she might regain her joie de vivre. Deadlock. We were and are all bosom buddies, so we could and did work it out ... finally, I bought John and Frank's shares (they have a qualified filly from the same family to follow) and little Emily came to Gerolstein. 

Photo.

A bit of a rest, a bit of a head-clearer, a lot of Wendy's best TLC and then: off to Southland for part two of her career in the care of our friend Kirstin Green (soon to be Green-Daly).

The winter passed, as Emily and Kirstin got to know each other, and the little lady was able, hopefully, to get into the happy frame of mind (aided by some physiotherapy) that had characterised her first two campaigns. So after a few months and a couple of undemanding trials and ... it was race day! WHAAAAAT she is FAVOURITE? Against a trio of fine Williamson horses? Why? How? What's up?  Well, whatever it was, it fell on its face. Em was completely oumanouvered by the three Willies and finished 'hard held', so said the press, ... second to last! 2.9 lengths from the winner.

Did faith waver? Not really. Try again, next week. Now Harness Racing New Zealand has a very odd and inconsistent handicapping system. They abolished the fine old C1, C2 way of doing things, which had served incontrovertibly for decades, and replaced it with a peculiar 'rating' system which can be easily manipulated. So everyhorse was supposed to race against horses of her/his own 'rating'. Well, thanks to her patch of ghastliness, Emily has hit rock bottom in the ratings. R35. So does she get to race other R35s?  Oh no. Now a maiden race has apparently become compulsory on a programme. Up to R50. And now we have a 'one win' race, up to R58.  Bit two-faced, eh? Half the old system, half the shamefaced new system. All of which went to mean that, while much higher-rated horses got to race in the maiden race, Emily, not eligible for the one-win race, either (she'd won three), had to be nominated for the main trot of the day, against horses rated in the 60s. Happily, this week, the one-win trot evaporated (for the second week in succession), the lowest-rated horses from the main trot were transferred to its replacement .. and Em was the lowest of the low. So the others had to give her a 10 metre start!  If anybody has read this far, I mean WOT!?  Talk about chaotic mess. Let's have one system or another, but for grandad's sake, make it a clear and sensible one. I suggest we start from the bottom ...

So, come the next week and there she is, off scratch, alone, with all the 50s and 60s behind her. And with a new driver ... Kirstin being committed to driving her other horse, she has been replaced by my old friend, 'the Orange Roughie'; Blair Orange, national champion driver, no less. Raining. Slushy track. And once again she is, goddamit, favourite! Maybe this little piece was the cause?

Well, as you can see 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drfuxkgeF24&t=2s

She did it on her ear.

And, I should note, in a time a whole 3 seconds faster than the 'main trot'.

THAT's the girl we know! I think Emily's career might have just been re-kickstarted. Let's hope ...

In the meanwhile, looking forward to the debut of MISS MADDIE MAXIE (owners: John, Frank and Shirley) and sending heartfelt thoughts to those of our team who are less than well ....

PS Last evening, Wendy and I sat with a celebratory bottle, and watched the replays of Emily's four wins, plus her two Addington 'beaten a nose's ... bless you, little lady!