An outstanding winter track at Oamaru proved to be just what Speedy Jax needed to win the Waimate Cup yesterday.
The Kevin and Pam Hughes-trained gelding had the course and distance statistics to be a leading hope in yesterday's $25,000 2200m feature, but it was just a shortage of recent form that put some punters off.
However, co-trainer Kevin Hughes said the dead5 track was ideal for the 5yr-old son of Spartacus.
"At this time of year on this sort of track, he's not a bad horse,'' Hughes said.
"It was his distance and his track in the middle of the winter. He's a better horse than most of the winter horses around. It's right up his alley. To have this kind of track at this time of year is marvellous.''
The husband-and-wife partnership won the 2000 Waimate Cup with Gurney Hallack and Hughes remembers the win because of the impressive trophy that came with it 16 years ago.
The spoils were shared in the races on the undercard, with trainers coming from Waiuku in the north to Invercargill in the south to record their successes.
Waiuku trainer Sean Cameron's trip south this winter has certainly paid off with Amun Ra, who collected his third win in a row in the rating 75 1600 to start the day.
The son of Ustinov had ploughed through slow tracks at Riverton and Winton to win last month, but Cameron was always quietly confident the 4yr-old would handle a dead5 track.
"He goes from dead to slow - he's just no good on a firm or heavy,'' Cameron said.
"It had been a while between runs and I was just a bit worried about his fitness, but he's a pretty clean-winded horse.
"I've got a lot of time for the horse - I think he will go places - so I didn't disregard him at all.''
The last 100m of Amun Ra's 1600m was the most impressive of all, hauling in the Bevan Wilson-trained Flag The Groom.
"He won over 2000m last start - I think he's an 1800-2000m horse, being by Ustinov. Hopefully in a fortnight over 1800m [at Riccarton], he'll be right.''
Wilson did not have to wait long for a victory, though, having the - well - final say with Final Say in race 2, a 1400m maiden.
Ashburton-based Wilson was pleased to strike a dead track at Oamaru after both Flag The Groom and Final Say did not really handle a heavy10 track at Riccarton on June 3.
Wilson said Final Say's fitness was still on the way up as well.
"He had 10 days off prior to striking that tough going at Christchurch, where that got the better of him,'' he said.
"We're really relieved to get a win. He shouldn't be a June maidener, really, but he's got that monkey off his back now.''
Riccarton trainer Peter Rudkin had one eye on the Oamaru races and another on the TV yesterday.
Rudkin prepared Lady Rock to win at her second South Island start for owner Terry Lines, and the pair also shared in the ownership of Precision Strike, which finished fifth at the Sunshine Coast meeting in southern Queensland yesterday.
Strike Up The Band provided Ryan Bishop with the perfect return from injury in the rating 65 1400m.
Bishop sent the 7yr-old, who is getting fit for a hurdling career, for home at the top of the straight, winning by three lengths.
Bishop broke a thigh bone in a training accident in January and yesterday marked his first day riding in five months.
