By Duane Ranger
Rob Argue says he might get the invitation to go and have tea with his father Stephen this weekend following his good deed at Cambridge Raceway on Thursday night (November 17).
Argue joked things had been a bit tense since he and Precious Moment were disqualified from first when favourite at Cambridge Raceway on October 21.
“I bowled over a couple of markers and that cost me. There wasn’t much speaking in the household when I went and visited Dad after that. I had to work for me tea,” laughed Argue.
“Na things are sweet. He’s an a good man and a great Dad. The only reason he’s training horses is to further my career and I really appreciate that and what he has done for me in life,” junior driver, Argue added.
The 25-year-old made amends at Cambridge Raceway last night when he steered his father’s 5-year-old The Pres mare, Precious Moment to a three quarter length victory in race two – the $6,000 Room Mate Cabins Up To R48 Trot.
But Argue senior had an anxious moment at the start after a slow getaway from the 30m handicap which saw them 15 lengths last with two laps remaining.
They were then three back and one out at the bell before Argue unleashed the brown mare four-wide down the back straight. She virtually won untouched and unlike her October 21 run there was no victory salute this time.
“She would be one of the fastest horses I have trained. She shows real good acceleration when she wants to. That was clearly evident tonight.
“Even when she missed away a bit I thought she was still good enough to get around them and win. She’s not the best horse I’ve worked but she’s certainly no mug either,” (Stephen) Argue said.
Precious Moment stopped the clock in 2:53.7 (mile rate 2:07) with final 800m and 400m sprints of 61.6 and 29.8. It was her second win in 30 starts and first since winning for Murray Edmonds at Ashburton last Boxing Day.
“We (the Argue family) have leased her until the end of the season when she will go back down south to the O’Connell family, who own and bred her,” Argue said.
“She will probably line up again at Cambridge in a fortnight,” he added.
Last night’s meeting also saw one amateur driver resurrect his career with a victory in race one.
Bruce Dickens won the opening amateur event behind the Todd Mitchell trained Shardon’s Pearl. Dickens’ last winner came behind the Doug Gale and Maurice Calder trained Golden Rock at Alexandra Park on September 1999.
The feature pace was won by the Rod MacKenzie (Tuhikaramea) trained and James Stormont driven Fizzi Lizzi. The 6-year-old McArdle mare zoomed along the passing lane to win fresh-up after a three month spell.
She was the $7.60 fourth favourite in the seven-horse $8,500 Cambridge Community House R68 and Faster Pace. It was her fifth win from 27 starts. She’s also placed five times and won just over $40,000 in stakes.
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