Clarrie Porter did not have far to go to see yet another
breeding success from his mare, Iris Pointer.
Porter, who lives in Palmerston with his wife, Leckie,
watched their Sundon mare, Dwindle Mist, win on debut at
Waikouaiti yesterday, and even got a whip flourish from
trainer-driver Phil Williamson - a part-owner along with his
wife, Bev, and the Porters - as an unexpected bonus.
Williamson said the flourish came about as he does not get
into the sulky much on race day now sons Nathan, Matthew and
Brad have progressed through the ranks.
''`It's been a long time since I've been in the winner's
circle. I haven't driven much,'' Williamson said.
''I will probably go back into retirement. It was just a
one-off drive. We own a bit of the horse, it was here at
Waikouaiti and I had been working her right through, so I had
a bit of faith in her.''
Williamson had to survive an inquiry after it was alleged he
illegally pushed out coming into the home straight on the
first occasion. However, the Judicial Control Authority's
deliberations after the hearing were brief and the inquiry
was dismissed.
The Porters have been breeding from the Pointer Hanover mare
since 2001, producing the likes of Rhythmic Sun (11 wins) and
Sun Of Iris (five wins), while Iris Pointer also produced
Young Pointer who won the group 2 Challenge Stakes (now the
Lyell Creek Stakes) at Alexandra Park in 2001 and 2003.
''We've been very lucky,'' Porter said.
''We always thought she [Dwindle Mist] would be all right,
but it's just taken a while. Phil thought if she trotted the
first 200m, she'd be OK.''
Monnay's form reversal for the Williamsons continued with an
easy win in the feature trot yesterday. The Monarchy gelding
got things wrong at Addington on February 1 but, prior to
that, he had recorded two wins from the Williamson stables
since owners Megan Irvine and Ivan Gutsell sent him north
from their Wyndham base.
''I think there was a little bit of frustration - Megan
thought he was a better horse than he was going,'' Williamson
said.
''I was only too pleased to see if I could do anything. All
their hard work was the doing of it - I had the easy job of
fronting up with him.''
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