By Matt Markham
Jack Harrington’s biggest fear was that he would become a trainer who was known for just the one good horse.
The young rising star hit the mark early on in his training career by finding the talent of Hey Yo and building her successful career. But now he’s staring down the barrel of another prospect who could take him a long way and it comes in the form of two-year-old trotter, Renezmae who showed she’s not forlorn hope in the remaining two-year-old trotting features with a big win at Ashburton on Saturday.
“I was pretty surprised to be honest,” Harrington said.
“I knew she was probably good enough to be competitive, but to win the way she did after starting from out wide was huge I thought.”
From the outside of the barrier Renezmae was sent forward by Dexter Dunn and the pair never looked back running away at the top of the straight to win by one and three quarter lengths in a time just over two minutes.
Harrington has always had a bit of time for the daughter of The Pres and City Lane, but it’s taken a while for her to come to it.
“Initially she was just another horse, but she’s just got better and better.
“And racing has really helped her too, she’s improved every time she has stepped out.”
With on eye on the Jewels, Harrington is facing a big month in what is just his third season training.
He’s working 20 horses at the moment, with the majority of them young horses he is breaking in or doing early preps with.
The racing team might be light, but the rest is ticking along nicely and Harrington is happy.
“It’s going good, better than what I ever really expected to be honest.”
The Sires’ Stakes Final at Addington will be the next assignment for Renezmae before the Jewels and then a trip to Australia isn’t out of the equation.
“She’s paid up for the Breeders Crown and that’s part of the reason why Dexter is driving her because I know he will be over there if we decide to go.
“It’s great to be able to have a driver like him on, he certainly gives you a lot of confidence.”
Harrington has 10 winners next to his name for the season and with a young, developing team he’s already thinking about how that figure might be able to be reached next season.
Stable star, Hey Yo is being aimed at all the major trotting features while Bailey’s Knight, who ran fifth in yesterday’s Southern Supremacy after an early gallop is a slight chance of heading to the Sophmore Classic in two weeks at Addington.
“I’ll see how he pulls up, if he’s tired he can head to the paddock but if he comes through it well we might press on.”
Saturday’s meeting belong to Dunn who drove three other winners on top of Renezmae – continuing a golden run of form on the Ashburton surface. New Zealand’s leading driver, Dunn also picked up wins with Warloch, Mac Almighty and Royal Shine as he closes in on 2,000 career wins.
Colin DeFilippi went a step closer to the same milestone early in the day when he drove his 1995th winner on Elmers Hoofing It for Kevin James.
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