By Dave Di Somma – Harness News Desk
2018 New Zealand Cup winner Thefixer is no longer an All Star.
The nearly one million dollar earner has left the powerful All Stars Stables of Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen to join Regan Todd on the beach at Woodend in North Canterbury.
“He was Natalie’s project”, says Thefixer’s part-owner Phil Kennard, “and it’s never easy to shift a horse but everyone agreed that his best chance of getting back was going to the beach.”
The son of Bettor’s Delight has long had foot issues – “he’s just got soft feet”.
Now six and with a record of 12 wins from 37 starts Thefixer has not won a race in New Zealand since that Cup triumph at Addington on November 13 2018. Since then though he’s run third to Ultimate Sniper in the 2019 Interdominion final, second to Spankem second in the 2019 Miracle Mile in Sydney, and second to Self Assured in the Auckland Cup on New Year’s Eve (2019) .
“He’s a lightly raced horse,” said Kennard, “and physically he has no other issues apart from his feet”.
Todd has been associated with the horse before, in the lead up to his 2018 Cup win. Then Thefixer was still officially in Purdon and Rasmussen’s care. Now the stable change is permanent.
“It’s pretty exciting,” said Todd, “ we are hoping the beach will take the pressure off his feet, rather than being on the track all the time.”
At the other end of the spectrum the 32-year-old is also officially training promising four-year-old Percy.
Initially with Phil Burrows the American Ideal gelding has been transferred to Todd after two luckless starts at Addington , where he’s started favourite and finished fourth.
While Todd is officially in charge much of the day-to-day training is the responsibility of his offsider and trials driver Tom Bamford. His family, who are sprinkled around the South Island, own the horse and yes the horse’s name does have some significance.
“My nana – her father was Percy and she had a brother called Percy”
Percy will debut for the stable on Friday in race 3 at Addington – the IRT “Flying Horses since 1972” mobile pace.
“He has very high speed and he goes well, the first step is to win a maiden on Friday night and go from there.”
As for Thefixer, he is a longer term proposition as he builds to the trials potentially in September and then the traditional pre- Cup races leading up to November.
“He will let us know if he’s ready,” said Todd.
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