Kurt of Gerolstein: EMILY: The second semester of a six-year-old

Monday, June 2, 2025

EMILY: The second semester of a six-year-old

Yesterday, our little girl was back to the track. Autumn holidays over!

Term one had gone quite well. Although she had not actually won a race, she had notched up multiple second and thirds and given us a tremendous amount of fun.

So, roll on term two! First up was to be a fillies and mares race -- nice, I wish there were more of those --- what was not quite so nice, for Emily, was that it was over 2700 metres, a touch further than her best distance. What was definitely not so nice was the race rating. 35 upwards. So it was, basically, a free-for-all. From the glummest maiden to multiple race-winners. So much for Harness Racing New Zealand's profession to have like-racing-like!

When the field came out, it certainly wasn't like-against-like. Handicapping made it more reasonable, but ...

Actually, Emily came out of it rather well. The front line was definitely not of the level of the rest. The back lines, with Emily's stablemate SAMANTHA'S MOON (20 metres), and the decidedly classy AROHA KENNY (30 metres) were another world altogether! Emily shared the 10 metres line with two recent lower-grade winners and another fine trotter in MIXED FAITH. How that girl ever got so low in the ratings, I know not.

Hmmm. I thought. We ought to have a chance for a cheque .. oughtn't we? Then the local tipsters' picks came out. Oh.

Fair enough. AROHA KENNY had all suffrages. But one measly fourth pick? Was I being too hopeful?

What WAS I hoping for? Well, second place would be good. A couple of thousand dollars, and you don't get any added rating points. Just like the old days of C1, C2, C3. A win? Well, you never say no to a win! That's what you are there for. Aroha Kenny COULD gallop!

Well, she certainly didn't begin well. And two of the 10-metre horses blew themaelves out of the race. EMILY began well, but not brilliantly. She still does that funny little dance step when the tapes fly. But, nowadays, it's not much more than half-a-step. But SAMANTHA simply flew the start, made up her handicap in no time and zoomed, as is her wont, to the front, at a great rate. The front markers glued themselves grimly to her back wheel and EMILY slotted in to fourth, as they ate up the first kilometres ..

Mark wisely nipped EMILY off the fence, as the trailing horse imploded outrageously with a whole lap left to go, then nipped back in again, once she was out of the road, following Samantha, as MIXED FAITH loomed up on the outside of her ... it looked as if it would be a three-horse finish ... AROHA KENNY was still half-a-dozen lengths back!

Into the straight, EMILY took inside lane. Past MIXED FAITH she went, past SAMANTHA (who had a puncture!).. and she hit the front! But half-a-dozen lengths deficit was nothing to AROHA KENNY who flew down the outside, past all three of them ...

Second. Open the bottle! Exactly the hoped-for result!

Wonderful start to the new term!

Onwards and upwards! Invercargill has a second round of this series next week. I guess most of these same mares will be out again ... well, it seems EMILY can cope ...

PS. These four finished 8 lengths ahead of the 5th horse (which was hampered by the imploding one). And FIFTY lengths ahead of the remainder. Steeplechase distances ... Are free-for-alls really fair-for-all ...?

PS I see the imploded one has been stood down. Rightly so.

Addendum: The second heat. No Aroha Kenny, this time. She has done her stuff and qualified for the final. So SAMANTHA (20 metres) is, this time, the back-marker. And it's 2200m. EMILY is off 10 metres.

So, it's the same race again, without the winner, and with one addition. Why should the result be any different? Well, the southern "tipsters" (often a feeble lot, especially number two) thought not.