Horse Racing: Persistence pays off for Wells

Many others would not have persevered as long but trainer local trainer Rick Wells always had confidence that Affogato would be a winner and he was on Wednesday at Ruakaka at his 38th start. In the Northgate Lodge 2100m maiden Affogato was a comfortable winner when ridden by Sam Spratt.

The now 6-year-old gelding had run a number of close up placings in his career but had yet to be the winner. Most trainers and owners would have given up hope before the 38th start.

The opposite is true for first time starter and winner Pearson Square from the Tony Pike stable.
The Cambridge trainer, who produced Sacred Elixir to triumph in the Group 3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude on Saturday, has the son of Roc de Cambes on a path to the Group 1 Sothys NZ 2000 Guineas. His odds have been trimmed from $81 to $21 for the Riccarton feature.

"He's a big horse that was always going to benefit with a patient approach," Pike said.

"We'll have time for one more run and that's likely to be over 1400m. He'll appreciate the big roomy track at Riccarton and the step up to a mile on a good surface."

Pearson Square crossed the field from the outside gate to lead at Ruakaka and he coasted clear in the straight to score by three and a half lengths.

"We took all the bad luck out of the equation and went forward - he's a horse that's got plenty of ability," rider Vinnie Colgan said.

The other races on the day proved hard for the locals to win but a couple of runners missed by the barest of margins, including Stoked Me. The Kim O'Riley gelding appreciated the rain-sodden track in the last race and just missed snatching the win from Five Off The Tee in the last few bounds.

A number of runners from the leading local stable of Donna Logan and Chris Gibbs performed a little below the betting market expectations. After a very impressive trial performance Romancer raced greenly to finish second in the first and Toorak Tower did not appreciate the sodden track in the last race.

The majority of the meeting had been held in warm spring conditions but after the arrival of a thunder storm the meeting was lucky to be able to be continued with significant rainfall and the threat of lightning to the west of the course.

The Logan/Gibbs stable will be looking for better luck on Saturday as they tackle two main events at Hastings.

In the Sacred Falls Hawkes Bay Guineas the stable has two runners in Mongolian Falcon who has proven wet ground form and Wyndspelle. The race has attracted great quality 3-year-olds with the unbeaten Ugo Fascolo and Heroic Valour clashing for the first time.

In the $250,000 Group 1 Livamol Classic, stable runner Hasselhoof is at the generous fixed odds of $10. The race is run at weight for age over 2040m. This Hastings classic race is the opportunity for Hasselhoof to step up and prove himself in the bigger league and the distance will be greatly in his favour. If the track is no worse than slow, the price of $10 represents great value for a horse of his capability.