LULLABY time for about five hours at the back of the day stalls paid dividends for Port Macquarie mare Nothin’ Leica Red (5-2) in scoring a stylish win at Taree-Wingham Race Club’s TAB meeting at Bushland Drive Racecourse this week.
Unlike at her previous start when she was so agitated she was hosed down four times before racing at Port, this time trainer Glen Hodge was able to conduct a routine which had her primed to do her best.
The six-year-old mare was calm in the saddling enclosure, on her toes going around to the barrier stalls with the clerk-of-the-course and despite giving size and weight away to the rest of the field she had a length to spare on the finishing line in the Saxbys Soft Drinks Ratings Based 57 Handicap over 1600m.
“The behind the stalls trick worked again,” Hodge said.
“The worst part is that I had a horse in the first race and she was in the last, so she had to wait for her turn.
“But she stood out the back asleep like a cow pony.
“To back her, you just have to see how she looks in the saddling enclosure.”
The mare has been to Taree three times for two wins and Hodge’s away from the hustle and bustle routine has worked wonders so far.
“I think she won better this time than when she won here last time.”
Broadmeadow jockey Allan Robinson said the lightly-framed mare was jogging in the middle of the field early and when she spurted to the lead she wanted to look around.
“Some skinny things can carry weight,” Hodge said of his mare.
One of the part-owners, Steve Perrin, from Sydney, said Nothin’ Leica Red’s racing style was ‘no good for the heart’ but then said in appreciation of her effort: ‘She flew the last bit.’
He said he and his big contingent of owners from all over Australia would celebrate with a “few reds”, hence the mare’s name, being by Nothin’ Leica Dane. Hodge is considering a start for her in the $20,000 Port Macquarie Cup Prelude over 1800m on Sunday.
Last start Taree maiden winner Royal Sands made the pace early only to weaken to fourth with Broadmeadow gelding Flambeau (9-2) edging out Taree gelding Rebellious Spirit (16-1) for second in a race won in above average time on the good track.
Royal Sands’ trainer Bob Haire had better luck early when his three-year-old filly he bred, Royal Alias, belied her previous run when she was an unlucky seventh when slow away and then found difficulty getting runs at Port.
She was favourite at Port and punters again rallied to her side in backing her from 4-1 to 13-8 with bookmakers and the Dale Spriggs ridden filly was second outside the leader early before scoring handily by just under a length in a class record.
“She stepped back on Dale last start but she got away cleanly today,”said Haire.
Both Royal Sands and Royal Alias are from his former promising Sydney winner Princess on Parade, also the dam of other winners he and his wife have bred, such as Princess Boudiga, Fongshu and Coriolis.
Posting of a good track, something not often registered in the last couple of years, saw a spate of class records set.
None were more impressive than that set by first-starter, three-year-old grey Broadmeadow gelding Grey Thunder (9-2 to 2-1) in doing a lot wrong before scoring in 57.92s for 1000m in the Peter Doyle Cellars 3YO Maiden Plate. It missed the start by about four lengths, rounded the field wide from its outside barier, then wanted to run out nearing the post for Broadmeadow jockey Morgan Butler and trainer Kris Lee.
Lee and Butler also combined for a win with Hyper Fire (3-1 to 13-8) in the XXXX Gold Ratings Based 67 Handicap. One of the favourites, Taree’s Figure Dancer, ridden by Robert Thompson, was about a dozen lengths off the lead early and was disappointing in running fourth when aiming for its third win from its past four starts.
Butler said it was his first winning double at Taree: “It is good to get on Kris Lee’s horses.”
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