Racing is many things to many people but most of us involved would agree that it’s character building. I really did believe that Dee and Gee (Darci Brahma – Gabana by Jungle Pocket) could win yesterday’s Wellington Cup and she certainly tried her heart out before coming up two inches short. The Russians have a proverb which states that when God shuts a door, he opens a window and, whilst not being a religious bloke, I’ve come to admire the philosophy behind the idea.
A couple of posts ago I referenced the success of horses raced by our partnership. Since then Rikki Tikki Tavi (Tavistock – Macinally by Volksraad)) has gained a meritorious second in an Ellerslie open class sprint and Super Gee (Super Easy – Arctic Heights by Johar) has impressed winning a special conditions event at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day. Amidst the ashes of yesterday’s defeat I was able to console myself with the thought that Dee and Gee’s placing had taken stakes won by Cloughmore Racing Partnership horses to over $500,000 ($521,152 to be exact). Not bad for an outlay of $93,000.
As you’ll imagine, I’ve spent much of the last three weeks perusing The Karaka Sales catalogues. It’s blindingly obvious that with each year that goes by conformation increasingly weighs more heavily than pedigree in the criteria which determine which horse gets into which part of the sale. To me, this is an opportunity to identify horses in the lower two sales which have pedigrees to create decent race records in spite of what they look like in late January/early February. Dee and Gee was a December foal and out of a Jungle Pocket mare. Many buyers would have been suspicious of Jungle Pocket, whereas I was in the fortunate position of knowing enough about him to form a different opinion.
Anyway, let’s hope our partnership can find another contestant for one or more of our major races. And let’s hope that this time we don’t have to console ourselves with Russian proverbs
