By Jonny Turner
Megan McIntyre gave her family something to celebrate when she scored her first win as a trainer with Go Kiwi.
The horsewoman notched win number one with just her fifth starter when Go Kiwi won in junior drivers’ company for Ben Hope on Thursday night.
McIntyre had effectively trained the horse to win his first two races, when she worked for his previous official trainers, James and Jim Geddes.
Gaining her first official win in her own right made last night’s win even more special than those victories.
“It was awesome,” McIntyre said.
“When you do it in your own name it is a bit more special.”
The victory was an all family affair.
McIntyre races the Courage Under Fire gelding with her partner, Stephen Swain, and brother, Brendon.
They may have had some slightly concerning moments in the final lap of Go Kiwi’s victory.
Hope was forced to make a four-wide move in to the race at the 600m.
Go Kiwi was pushed even wider on the turn, before he let down with a powerful finish to score in the smart time of 2-42.9 for 2200m.
The pacer should be capable of running an even faster next time he goes to the races.
The horse had some down time since his first up fourth at Ashburton, earlier this month, after suffering a health problem.
“At Ashburton he hadn’t really been screwed down and then he was meant to race at Oamaru, but he got a bacterial infection.”
“So he should really improve off this run.”
McIntyre trains the pacer from the stable of her employer, Mark Jones.
She said she was thoroughly enjoying her role there.
“Mark is really good to work for – he is pretty laid back.”
McIntyre brings extensive experience to her training career, much of which comes from a long time stint with Nigel McGrath.
She plans to continue to put that to use and hopefully produce more winners.
“I’ll just keep working away with another couple of horses, we will see how it goes.”
“But, I do like the training side.”
McIntyre plans to give Go Kiwi his next start at Addington in July.
Her first win as a trainer came on the same night driver Blair Orange notched a significant milestone.
He scored his 200th win of the season with GT Reactor in the race prior to Go Kiwi’s win.
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