Patience the key to Ascot Park wins

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Love The Blues and trainer-driver Robin Swain get the best of The Great Buzz and Ellie Barron at Ascot Park on Sunday. Photo: Jonny Turner.

Patience paid off when Love The Blues broke his maiden at Ascot Park on Saturday.

The Robin Swain trained pacer scored his first victory as a late four-year-old when running down the leader, The Great Buzz, to win.

Love The Blues was a $8000 purchase at the national yearling sales in 2016.

Between the time he arrived at Swain’s stable and when he won on Saturday, the horse had tested Swain’s patience to nearly breaking point.

“He has been a real handful right the way through.”

“He has got the ability there but it has been a job trying to get him to show it.”

“He had raced in some good fields so, he deserved a win.”

Love The Blues’ win was an all Eastern Southland affair.

The Auckland Reactor gelding gave his owners Trevor and Dawn McPherson their first victory as owners.

“I have always been interested,” Trevor McPherson said.

“I sold my farm to Kenny Baynes about five years ago and I thought if I don’t get a horse now I never will.”

“We have been friends with Robin for quite a few years.”

It is not just Love The Blues’ quirky temperament that has forced his owners and trainer to be patient with him.

“He is very hard to put condition on, that is why we are racing him every two weeks and it seems to be working.”

A different kind of patience paid off when Triple VC headed a Murray Brown trained quinella on Saturday.

The five-year-old scored a deserved win when winning by two-lengths over his stablemate, Dallas Grimes.

Brown said Triple VC had run in to plenty of bad luck recently.

“He deserved that, he had run in to all sorts of bad luck lately.”

 

Please Shuddup wins the feature pace at Ascot Park on Saturday. Photo: Jonny Turner.

 

Brown doubled up when Please Shuddup won Saturday’s feature pace.

After being caught parked early in the race, driver Brad Williamson pressed the horse on to the lead at the 1500m and the four-year-old could not be caught.

Please Shuddup has the Southern Country Cups Final at Ascot Park in his sights, next month.

A late driver change saw Williamson get behind the pacer after flight delays meant Sheree Tomlinson could not attend Saturday’s meeting.

Tomlinson, John Morrison and Nathan Williamson were stranded in Christchurch because flights could not land in Invercargill.

The situation gave two young Southland horsemen the opportunity to start their careers in the sulky.

Trials drivers, James Forbes and Tristan Larsen, were granted temporary junior drivers licences to fill in for Tomlinson and Morrison in Saturday’s junior drivers event.

Forbes registered his first placing when he finished third with Our Foxy Lady.

Larsen was behind Spurred By Success, who faded in to sixth placing.

 

Triple VC scored a deserved win at Ascot Park for driver Brent Barclay. Photo: Jonny Turner.

 

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