Ivanskavinskyvar must have stolen a glance at Steven Prince's stable notes this week, because he was on his last chance when he lined up in the rating 65 1600m at Wingatui yesterday.
‘‘If he didn't go any good today, that was it,'' Prince said.
The son of Keeninsky was not liked by punters, starting as second outsider on the totalisator, but Prince decided to drop him back 600m in distance from his recent starts over 2200m. The move worked as he held out Avow and Sofia Loren in a tight finish.
‘‘I always thought, to be fair to him, 2200m was too far. He's had a couple of seconds this time in.''
Riccarton trainers Michael and Matthew Pitman made an impression yesterday with Mr Typhon's dash to win over 800m. The 3yr-old was four lengths off the leader and stablemate Portovenere with 200m to go, but swooped by to win 1 lengths.
Pitman paid a shade under $10,000 for the son of Redoute's Choice at the 2014 National Yearling Sales on the Gold Coast in June of that year, but the gelding had been hampered with a back problem during his three runs in the summer.
‘‘His legs weren't very flash when I got him but he got better and better,'' Michael Pitman said.
‘‘But then he had problems behind the saddle and the backbone.''
Work from a chiropractor sorted out the problems and ‘‘he's absolutely bloomed since''.
Despite his excellent trackwork in the last fortnight, Pitman was surprised to see Mr Typhon's powerful finish.
‘‘I thought this was too short for him and the other horse [Portovenere] was a certainty.''
Minutes To Midnite survived an inquiry to hold on to his victory in the 1600m maiden.
Daniel Bothamley, the rider of the runner-up, Mac Murdoch, filed a protest, alleging he lost momentum in the closing strides when he and Minutes To Midnite, ridden by Alfred Chan, got very close.
Judicial Control Authority chairman Geoff Hall was not satisfied Mac Murdoch had suffered enough interference, if any, to overturn the placings, and noted Bothamley never stopped riding his mount at any point.
There were no such contentious issues with Full Count in the rating 85 1400m one race later.
The Nikki and Barrie Blatch-trained gelding has now won three races from 13 starts in the South Island, justifying the decision to bring the former Roger James-trained runner to their Tapanui base.
The 5yr-old burst clear over the last 200m, winning by 1 lengths and giving Nikki Blatch a good kind of problem to solve.
‘‘The syndicate are quite keen to try him over ground, so we thought we would have a go at the Wairio Cup [over 2000m on May 15] but there's also an open 1400m there so we'll see what happens.''
