Collett gets sentimental century

[Wandering Eyes]

Bringing up milestones is nothing new to Jim Collett, but scoring his 100^th training win at Matamata on Sunday proved more sentimental than most.

Collett’s daughter, jockey Samantha Collett, was back in the country on a working holiday and he was delighted she was able to pilot Red Sniper (NZ) (Swiss Ace) to victory in the Colchester Engineering (1050m), bringing his training tally to 100 wins.

Collett, who rode more than 1500 winners as a jockey, said he wasn’t aware he was approaching the mark until earlier in the week.

“I didn’t really know about it until I was told at the track the other morning that I was on 99 wins,” he said.

“I have been training horses for a fair while but with small numbers. I rode a lot more winners as a jockey, but it was nice to do it with Sam riding the horse. I didn’t tell her before the race.”

Red Sniper had shown plenty of ability in his trials, finishing runner-up in three heats before winning his last outing over 800m earlier this month prior to his debut victory.

“I had a fair bit of confidence in the horse. He trialled well and things had to go right in the race,” Collett said.

“He has still got a bit to learn, but he has got the ability to go forward in life. He didn’t do much wrong in the race but he still has got to learn how to quicken up in a race.”

Red Sniper is out of Red Striker, a mare Collett trained to four victories, including the Listed Hallmark Stud Handicap (1200m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day in 2015 with Sam aboard.

“His mother (Red Striker) was good. She won five races for me, and a group race, so if he can be half as good as her it would be good,” he said.

Red Striker’s stakes victory was a massive highlight for Collett, but he said his biggest training moment came in 2007 when he trained and rode El Cuento to win the Listed Fairview Ford Slipper (1200m).

“When I won on El Cuento in a stakes race – I rode him and I trained him. He was sold on to Hong Kong and was a pretty smart horse,” he said.

“A lot of horses I train end up going to Hong Kong. A few of them have gone on to Class 1, and I will always remember those ones.

“I remember every client who has given me a horse, and I thank them for that.”

Collett is enjoying training at his boutique operation, where he only ever has up to seven in work, and he is hoping to extend his winning tally at Cambridge this week when Martell (NZ) (El Roca) contests the Horse Transport Services 1300.

“Martell will race on the synthetic on Wednesday,” he said. “He is a little bit better on the grass but he is fresh and could run a pretty cheeky race.”

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