3 minute read

Enigmatic stayer Balham turned up to play at Te Rapa on Saturday as he spear-headed a winning double for the David & Emma Haworth training partnership.

Ridden off the pace by regular pilot Mark Du Plessis, Balham left his rivals floundering in the run home as he dashed away to score a three-length victory in the day’s open staying event, the Fairview Motors 2100. It was a welcome return to winning form for the six-year-old who ended a frustrating run of minor placings at his last few runs.

“He’s a funny horse,” explained co-trainer Emma Haworth after the race.

“Some days you think you’ve got him spot on and he doesn’t do what you think he’s going to do and other days you don’t think he’s quite ready but he comes out and wins.

“He’s a weirdo”

Haworth admitted she had little confidence in a winning performance before the race as she believed her charge wouldn’t handle a rapidly deteriorating track that was softened by regular showers throughout the day.

“I thought he’d hate it,” she said.

“The fact that it was a bit loose meant he has copped it while he was also ridden completely different to the way we normally would.

“We try and get him up front so he is putting pressure on them early as he doesn’t have a big sprint. Today they have come back to him and he has got out to the better ground which has helped him.”

The father and daughter partnership didn’t have to wait long for their next success as lightly raced three-year-old Ophelia Lee stormed home two races later to take out a rating 65 1600 metre contest.

The O’Reilly filly had scored in similar fashion in maiden company at her most recent run and looks to have a big winter in front of her judging by the way she dealt to her rivals with her powerful finishing burst.