A NIGHTMARE trip home from New Zealand was tempered with yet another double for Robert Thompson when he combined with trainer Allan Denham at Muswellbrook on Thursday to win the TAB.COM.AU Class One (1280m) with Happy Go Plucky and the final race, the Norm Turner Electrical Class Three (100m), with Duck In Dubai.
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Thompson went to New Zealand to ride at the Wellington Cup carnival but the return home developed into something of a nightmare.
“The plane arrived back in Sydney early so we sat on the tarmac for half an hour,” he said.
“Then we got caught up in a traffic jam on the freeway and sat there for three and half hours.”
That was just another experience among many that Thompson has gone through in his travels around Australia and overseas to ride but there was another hurdle to get over before the double was confirmed.
He had to survive a lengthy protest hearing after the last race after Greg Ryan, riding the second placed Quick Cash, fired in an objection alleging interference in the straight.
Duck In Dubai did shift in but Thompson quickly corrected his horse while Ryan continued to ride his horse out to the line.
The win by Happy Go Plucky, a three-year-old by Pluck, came on the right day with the owners coming to Muswellbrook to watch their horse.
* HAWKESBURY trainer Nick Mitchell was tossing up between another mid-week race in Sydney or making the trip to Muswellbrook and made the right decision by opting for the latter and winning the HTBA Benchmark 70 (1280m).
The seven-year-old, ridden by Grant Buckley, grabbed the lead near the line to beat Local Hero by a nose after Rachael Murray had tried to lead all the way.
“He is a horse that took a long time to mature and realise what racing is all about,” Mitchell said.
“I was tossing around whether to take him back to town but there was nothing suitable for the next few weeks and he needed this run.
“He was never out of trouble at his last run when he finished sixth in the Aspros Cup at Bathurst and honestly, it was nothing more than a working gallop.
“You never know he had been around.
“He was so full of himself he had to have another run now so here we are.”
* CENTRAL Coast trainer Angela Davies will send The Baker back to the paddock after his narrow win in the Arrowfield Maiden (1000m).
“He will be in the paddock tomorrow and he will have a good break but when he comes back I think he will have developed into a very nice horse,” Davies said.
“He is still growing and maturing and is still not there mentally.
“There have been a few little issues, just minor things and while he has not been back from the paddock all that long I think he has felt this preparation.”
The Baker was having only his second run back from a break and only his third career start and had to jump from a wide barrier.
Andrew Gibbons had no option than to have him three wide without cover yet he won by a neck from the Andrew Robinson trained Mac’s Reward which had raced two off the fence with The Baker to the turn.
They then settled down to a two horse battle in the straight.
“It wasn’t a pretty ride and he will be better when ridden with cover but I knew I was on the best horse,” Gibbons said.
“He will come back next time a very nice horse.”
* SCONE trainer Bill Farrow has a theory about Macmissile after his game win in the Horsepower Benchmark 58 (2300m).
Masmissile continued his love of the Muswellbrook track with all three wins on this course while this was his first on a good track.
“We all know he good he is on a rain affected track but we thought if he could win this race on a good track they will know he is around in a better quality race on rain affected going,” Farrow said.
“I have always thought her would make a stayer but what an amazing horse.
“He has won over 1000 metres, 1750 metres and now 2300 metres.”
“The horse has come of age this preparation and I think there are better wins in store for him.”
Rachel King, who has ridden him to all three wins, settled Macmissile behind the leader Advocacy then went on to beat that horse by three quarters of a length.
* A PHONE call described by trainer Jason Deamer as coming “out of the blue” led to his first starter Anticipate scoring a surprise win in the Coolmore Home Of Champions Maiden (1280m).
And it left million dollar yearling Red Knot, having his first start for Rod Northam after being switched from Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Knott, still a maiden after eight starts.
“Anthony Hall, who bred the horse, rang out of the blue and asked me to train him,” Deamer said.
“This is the first horse I have trained for him and now I have two.”
Hall is well-known in Newcastle racing circles and is a former Newcastle Jockey Club board member.
Anticipate was unplaced in a trial in August and sent to the paddock.
“He has been working well since he came back into work and I thought he was a chance to run a place,” Deamer said.
“He is a quiet, lazy horse at home but he showed plenty of fight for the win.”
Jockey Chad Lever and Deamer have developed a formidable combination and it continued with this win.
“Chad is a very good rider but also a very quiet, unassuming person who just goes about his business without any fuss,” Deamer said.
Red Knot, backed into odds on favouritism on the strength of placings in mid-week city and provincial grade, tried to lead all the way but was grabbed on the line.
However, that was his first start since May.
* STAYING bred mare Zarabeel came back in distance and needed every metre of the 1750 metres to win the Hollydene Estate Wines Class One and Maiden.
At her previous start she won a 1900 metre Class One at Armidale by more than 10 lengths but had to work a lot harder for this win.
“She needed every metre to win,” jockey Greg Ryan said.
“At one stage I didn’t think we were going to win and that it would just be a nice race but in the last 100 metres she really started to extend and I could feel her getting stronger.”
Trainer Stirling Osland fears he is going to have to step her up to open company.
“It is difficult to find restricted class races over a middle distance,” he said.
“I wasn’t keen to back her up after Armidale but this looked a nice race for her and it turned out to be the right decision.
“I don’t think she relished being among other horses and there wasn’t the early pace in this race that there was at Armidale.
“I think she is at her best with the speed on and on the outside of other horses.
“I will take her home and let her have a bit of time off then decide where to go with her.”