By Matt Markham
Tom Bagrie is just happy to have the monkey off his back.
The young horseman, who is the son of well-regarded trainer Peter Bagrie, produced his first winner as a trainer at Monday’s Akaroa Trotting Club meeting when DD Trotter put it all together to win the maiden trot in the hands of Bagrie’s cousin, Dexter Dunn.
It took nine starts to get that elusive first victory and Bagrie was happy to have that achievement ticked off the list.
“She has been a little bit frustrating at times, so it’s nice to get the first one,” he said.
“I’ve always thought she was good enough to win a few races, and still think that. But she is really still only learning about the game.”
Bagrie shares his workload with his father, Peter, at their Kaiapoi base and has about half a dozen horses in work currently.
That’s a comfortable number, as he never wants to get too big.
“A small team is all I am after at the moment, who knows what might happen further down the line but for now I’m quite happy just chipping away with this horse and a few others.”
Incidentally one of the co-owners of DD Trotter is Paul Nairn who finished second with Sunny Afternoon.
A four-year-old Monarchy mare out of Ensure, there’s no lack of breeding about the horse and should she be able to win a few more races like her trainer predicts, then we her value as a broodmare will only continue to grow.
Meanwhile Dunn found himself in the winner’s circle later on in the day when he guided the extremely talented Alpha Rock to victory in the Akaroa Cup.
The Cran Dalgety trained pacer has now won five of his six career starts and Monday’s victory lifted him to 12th spot on the Harness Jewels leader board in the three-year-old colts and geldings division with his stake earnings for the season sitting at $28,000.
Raced by Jim and Susan Wakefield, Alpha Rock is from the grand-producing mare Spark’s A Flyin who continues to produce great progeny.
The meeting was also a successful one for Jim and James Geddes.
They picked up a winning double with Buzkil and Mogul – the latter remaining unbeaten in three starts after launching three wide at the 800 metre mark to find the front before holding off all challenges.
“He’s just getting better,” James enthused after the race.
“We have had a few expressions of interest in buying him, but none for the right price yet, but he’s still for sale.”
The double took the stable’s season tally to six, just one win shy of their personal best mark of seven. And it’s come from just the 33 starters.
Kendra Gill and Shadowman found their way into the winner’s circle in the saddle pace, downing the might of two-time New Zealand Trotting Cup winner, Monkey King.
Run with four starters, the saddle pace was organised by Gill and attracted plenty of interest from those in attendance at the meeting.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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