Winners despite wet weather woes
With the abandonment of Counties last week, and Te Rapa on Saturday, it was great to see the Avondale Jockey Club stage their race meeting on Monday despite, thunderstorms and torrential rain.
Particularly pleased the races went ahead were the team from the Tiley Stables at Pukekohe Park, as they trained the last three winners on the eight race card.
Call Me Bob, in the hands of the country’s leading rider Sam Collett, provided an almost repeat performance from their last appearance at Avondale last month, when they took out the rating 75 1350 metre event. Previously they had combined to win over 1200 metres.
Despite being hampered early in the race, Call Me Bob improved to settle in the leading bunch, and after approaching the turn in fourth place, kicked clear to win by two and a half lengths. The five-year-old gelding was recording his fifth win for his owners Lee and Nigel Tiley, who are campaigning Megablast in Queensland.
The same Collett and Tiley combination was successful with Lupelani, when she scored an emphatic and easy win over 1200 metres.
And just to prove that Avondale is a horses for courses track, Swith In Time who completed the treble for the Tiley Stables was also a last start winner at Avondale. A lightly raced four-year-old gelding by Remind he is raced by Peter and Richard Cole and Andy Opie.
In a dogged finish with race favourite Sun Genes he fought on well to win by half a head, with more than six lengths back to the rest of the field. He looks like a horse to follow through the winter as he progresses through the grades.
Another impressive winner at Avondale on Monday was the twoyear-old winner Reevederci. He trounced his rivals in the hands of Leith Innes. He is raced by his breeders Jo and Brendan Lindsay.