From the hospital to the race track
Michael Pitman is undertaking two of the most challenging races of his lengthy and successful training career as he continues to fight bowel cancer.
He’s on track to win the first, a race against time.
Pitman, 63, is optimistic he will be at Moonee Valley on Saturday to cheer on Savvy Coup in the A$5 million (NZ$5.4m) Cox Plate (2040m).
Pitman, who is based at Riccarton, remains in Christchurch Hospital as he recovers from two surgeries but believes he will be at the Melbourne course to stand alongside his son and training partner, Matt, to watch their classy mare contest the iconic Group I race.
‘‘I should be out of hospital tomorrow [Thursday] and on my way to Moonee Valley on Friday morning,’’ Pitman told Stuff from his hospital bed yesterday afternoon.
‘‘I really want to. I’m not going to do something dumb to do it but I’ve talked to the surgeon and I hope to be there.’’
Pitman underwent a successful seven and a half hour surgery earlier this month but just days later was forced into a second surgery when an infection led to his pelvis filling up with fluid.
‘‘I’m fine now. I’ve been fine for the last couple of days,’’ he said.
But once Pitman makes it to Moonee Valley – the challenge to win the race on the track will be just as tough.
The Pitman partnership will put Savvy Coup up against wonder mare Winx – arguably the best horse in the world and certainly the best middle-distance horse Australasia has ever seen.
Winx will be racing for her fourth consecutive win in the race.
Trained by expat Kiwi Chris Waller, Winx has won A$19.9m (NZ$21.5m) in prize money.
Savvy Coup has won six of her 16 starts along with five placings to earn stakes of
$669,569.
Winx has won her last 28 races on the trot – an unbeaten streak that stretches back to May
2015. The New Zealand TAB has her listed as a
$1.20 chance to win the race with Savvy Coup at $31. All up, eight runners will contest the Cox Plate.
Savvy Coup goes into the race on the back of her stunning win in the Group I Livamol Classic at Hastings on October 6 – over the same distance as the Cox Plate – where she beat New Zealand’s best middle-distance horses by two lengths.
The margin could have been bigger, she did it with ease.
Savvy Coup, who has drawn barrier five, enjoyed a brief workout at Moonee Valley on Tuesday and Pitman said the reports from across the Tasman suggest she is thriving leading into the most significant race of her career.
Canterbury jockey Chris Johnson, who has been on-board for five of Savvy Coup’s six wins, will travel to Melbourne to ride her in the Cox Plate.
A Group I New Zealand Oaks winner, who would go on to run fifth in the Australian Oaks, Savvy Coup was named Three-Year-Old of the Year at the New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards back in August. She was also named South Island Horse of the Year.