Taylor races Franco Theron, a son of Badlands Hanover, with Peter Wilson and Di Stayt, both of Christchurch, but he was the only one of the trio on course braving the elements for the horse's first start for Westwood Beach trainers Jonny Cox and Amber Hoffman.
Franco Theron, a $10,000 purchase at the 2012 sales, had been a work in progress for Ashburton trainer John Hay after qualifying at Ashburton last August.
''John gave him a good six months off so he didn't come back in to work until January this year,'' Taylor said.
''But his biggest problem has been travelling - he's a poor traveller.
''John had trouble with him going to the races - he just couldn't get him to travel. He was running a race before he even got there.''
Trips to Oamaru, Timaru, Ashburton and back to Oamaru confirmed Franco Theron was stressing out on the way to the track, so an alternative was sought.
''We talked about it after Oamaru last start when he battled. We said `what do we do' and John said `I can't get him to settle but I think he's got ability.'''We looked down here and thought there are two race meetings here end on end.
The Cox-Hoffman stable seemed suitable with their Westwood Beach stables no more than 15 minutes away from Forbury Park. Hoffman has been riding the 4yr-old in work since he arrived at the stables a week ago and the horse featured in a photo of stable runners in the Otago Daily Times on Wednesday.''
My good mate Craig Dempster has King Louie and Cherokee Charlie with Jonny and Amber and the next thing I see [Hoffman] riding him in the ODT [on Wednesday].
''I honestly didn't expect that [win] tonight, but I'm absolutely over the moon.''
Taylor had previous success as an owner with the Brendon McLellan-trained Xavier (two wins).
