Arna Donnelly laughs when she talks about Rough And Ready.
The gelding turns 9 next week but made it career win 22 when he bolted away with the $25,000 Cambridge Pacers Christmas Cup on Wednesday night.
Fresh back from another winning trip at Palmerston North, Rough And Ready was sent on a mission by David Butcher in the middle stages, got the lead and that was that.
He was way too strong to the line for Iron Brigade, who capped another frustrating day for Team Telfer as they seek that one more win to give them the outright New Zealand single-season training record.
But this race was about Rough And Ready because not many horses win 22 races and Donnelly admits she never thought she would have one who did.
"That is a lot of wins. He is an old marvel," she smiles.
"When you think what he has done in his career. All those wins here, then he went to Australia where nothing went right for him.
"But he picked himself up off the canvas, has come home and won something like eight or nine more races.
"You'd love it if every horse was like him.
"Sure, he has times when he goes out of form but he always comes back to it, often in the summer when it is hotter.
"It is really incredible what he has done."
Donnelly said Rough And Ready could find himself a penalty-free race again some time soon but she saw no signs he was losing his appetite for racing.
She now moves on to the more serious New Year’s Eve business of the Auckland Cup with Jolimont and Little Spike.
But she can look back on 2025 fondly with her 46 wins, just six shy of her best year, and with some very talented juveniles to look forward to in 2026.
"I have got some really nice 2-year-olds who haven’t been over raced and I like the yearlings I have as well.
"It is pretty exciting to have good open-class horses but also the depth of those young ones coming through."
• Scott Phelan brought up his 400th training win with Greased Lightnin at the Phoebe Stud Harness 5000 at Ashburton on Sunday.
The Vincent 3-year-old, trained by Phelan and Barry Purdon, was the day's shortest priced favourite, paying just $1.10 to win.
Phelan has had 387 wins in partnership with Purdon dating back to 2008 and 13 on his own account.
• Republican Party's back-to-back wins in the Invercargill Cup last Friday continues a stellar 025 for the Cran and Chrissie Dalgety-trained star.
The win gave son Carter his fifth group 1 for the year, a record for a junior driver.
The win was also in a record 3min 19.2sec, eclipsing the old mark (2700m) set by Pembrook Playboy in 2021 (3:20.2).
Republican Party has won eight races and nearly $400,000 in 2025, taking his career earnings over the $1m mark. — HRNZ
By Michael Guerin
