Ritchie family triumph
Barry Lichter, Sunday Star Times
07-Mar-2010 |
Just like his dad before him, Shaune Ritchie "got square" when Military Move scored an upset win in yesterday's $2.2 million Telecom New Zealand Derby at Ellerslie.
And Ritchie reckons that his late grandad Merv, whose ashes are spread on the Ellerslie hill, would be proud that both his son and grandson had now won the one big race that eluded him.
Ritchie said his dad Frank always maintained the win that he prized the most during Bonecrusher's reign in the 1980s was the 1985 New Zealand Derby when Ritchie himself was strapper to the mighty "Red".
"Grandad's horse Terrific was beaten half-a-head in the derby so dad said he got square when Red won. I'm just so pleased I can be part of the eulogy too.
"Merv won just about everything - he didn't leave much for the family - but I'm thrilled that both dad and I have now won Ellerslie's biggest race.
"Ellerslie's always been my family's track. Grandad trained here, and so did dad, and I was brought up here and went to the schools around the track."
Little surprising then that one of the first in a long line of people to congratulate Ritchie, was his dad, who engaged in a clinch that wrestling's iconic The Undertaker would have been proud of. "This is fantastic," an emotional Frank Ritchie said. "Shaune does a fantastic job - he doesn't need my help any more - I'm not sure he ever did." Less than 24 hours after Shaune Ritchie spoke at the Ellerslie ceremony where Bonecrusher was inducted into the Hall of Fame, it was the Cambridge trainer's turn to write his own name into history.
And, ironically, Military Move couldn't have picked a better day to win, rider Michael Walker driving the horse home to beat Corporal Jones, ridden by the Hong Kong based rider Zac Purton.
Both horses are owned in Hong Kong and will soon be racing there, and yesterday was the first time Hong Kong took a live telecast from New Zealand.
"I've got quite a few Hong Kong horses in my stable," Ritchie said. "Without them I'd be struggling to run a business. We eventually send the horses up there but we get to train them for the two-year-old and three-year-old classics." It was certainly a good day when Military Move was shifted to Ritchie's stable after a fallout between partners in Hong Kong.
Originally bought at the ready to run sale for $110,000 by agent Phill Cataldo for Hong Kong trainer Almond Lee, the horse was taken over by Hong Kong owner Steven Lo.
Lo's bloodstock manager, Queensland's Paul Bellingham, said the luckless owner asked him for help 18 months ago.
"He'd put $40 million Hong Kong into racing and hardly had a winner.
"He heard how I'd helped a few other owners up there, buying horses like Thumbs Up and Best Gift, and he wanted to get on the bandwagon.
"He owns a soccer team in Hong Kong called Pegasus, and he named all his horses Pegasus something. I suggested he might want to change that - he'll probably go for Militarys now." Bellingham said Ritchie had loved Military Move from day one and he and his wife Alison had always had faith in him.
Ritchie said there was a chance Military Move would now tilt at the Rosehill Guineas and AJC Derby in Sydney.
"Either way he won't be racing in New Zealand as a four-year-old, he'll go up to Hong Kong to run in the derby." With his ability to plant himself on the pace, then kick at the finish, Military Move had an asset which could see him earn a lot more money, Ritchie said.
"If he can get a run like that one today he'd be a chance in a race like the Rosehill Guineas. I think he's a more effective 2000 metre horse because he's got a bit of speed. He just needs things to go his way, like the barrier draw.
"His last two marbles just made it impossible for him." Yesterday, from the four gate, Walker positioned Military Move perfectly in the trail, and he was there to pounce in the straight when Monaco Consul went bush and co-favourite Zarzuela began an impossible haul from the tail of the field, "It's been my dream since I was a kid to win the derby and oaks," said Walker when he finally put his tongue away after an emotional return to scale.
Walker paid tribute to a string of supporters but singled out Hugh Crawford. "He's been my manager for two and a half weeks and already I've won the derby," Walker invited racegoers to check out his new website just another change in his newfound professionalism and determination to get back to the top of the jockeys' premiership.
Rider Leith Innes said the heavily supported colt Monaco Consul (11th) never had his mind on the job yesterday, calling out at the barriers, and hanging during the running before his dramatic veer out on the home turn.
A number of riders blamed the slight cut in the track after late showers, among them James McDonald who said Zarzuela (fourth) wasn't happy in the ground and Opie Bosson, who said Katie Lee (14th) never hit out.
Earlier, Frank Ritchie has his own moment in the limelight when peanut-sized filly Obsession rekindled memories of champion mare Seachange in winning the $45,000 Westbury Classic.
There was the sight of a midget beating up rivals who towered over her, those same white silks with the blue band, the same face on the victory dais and, most spookily, the same girl rushing to give her a hug afterwards.
The similarities didn't escape Rick Williams, principal of The Oaks Stud, which races the three-year-old.
Williams was there in Dubai and England a couple of seasons ago, orchestrating Horse of the Year Seachange's tilt at the best mares in the world and that girl, Jayne Ivil, was there too, riding her in all her work and, in reality, training her by remote control.
It must have been fate which led Ivil to the Cambridge stable of Ritchie whom Williams entrusted with Obsession.
Ivil originally started her riding apprenticeship with Ritchie, then moved to Ralph Manning, before deciding she would not make the grade and branched out into interviewing her colleagues for Trackside Television.
Today she combines the two, riding work every morning for Ritchie before working at Trackside.
"Jayne just loves this filly," Ritchie said. "She rides her every morning and gets dirty on me if I put someone else on.
"And she takes the day off from Trackside to take the team to the races.
"She's only a little peanut this filly, but she has a great heart."
Williams said Ivil told her recently she couldn't believe how lucky she was to latch on to another good filly so soon. |
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