A jumping career is beckoning Indeem (NZ) (Nadeem) after his tough victory in the JF Grylls Memorial Classic (1500m) at Te Rapa on Saturday.
The five-year-old gelding travelled four-wide for the majority of the trip and showed his tenacity to fight out a three-quarter length victory in the hands of apprentice jockey Elen Nicholas.
“He drew out (8) and the riding instructions I gave were to stay wide and keep the colours clean,” trainer Chad Ormsby said.
“There wasn’t any point trying to get back for some cover, he is a horse that is coming back from two runs over ground, and he was fit.
“We just freshened him up for a bit of an experiment to see how he did with dropping back in distance.
“Elen rode well to instructions, and it pulled off. He was the fitter horse at the end of it.”
Adept on wet ground, Ormsby said his confidence levels grew throughout last week’s wet weather.
“The rain came during the week, which really helped his chances,” he said.
Ormsby said the son of Nadeem has been a bit of a handful but has plenty of talent, particularly over hurdles.
Photo: Trish Dunell
“The horse has got some ability. He has been quite a difficult horse to deal with, that is why he ended up at my place,” he said.
“A hurdle start is looming pretty quickly for him, it may even be next start. He jumps as good as any jumper I have sat on, so it would be nice to see him have a run over hurdles soon.”
Ormsby said he is being kept busy at his Matamata stable, particularly with another strong draft for New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready To Run Sale later this year, which he will offer under his Riverock Farm banner.
“We have got about a dozen horses going to the ready to run and we have got a few nice racehorses that have just come back into work,” he said.
“Moana is back in and is looking well. We will just take her through the grades. It would be nice to get a black-type win with her, she has got two black-type placings, so we will target something over the Christmas period with her.
“We have got a rising three-year-old half-sister to Mana Nui that has shown a bit of promise.”
Meanwhile, Ormsby has faced a frustrating last 18 months after sustaining a broken leg when riding at a Rodeo in Northland.
The Waikato horseman has undergone surgeries since then and is set to go under the knife once more in a bid to try and return to the saddle.
“I would have liked to have looked at getting back in the saddle in the next month or two, but I am just having another operation to try and help my leg. It is not really healing as it is meant to,” Ormsby said.
“The doctor has one last option that he wants to explore and we will do that after the breeze-ups. With a bit of luck, we might be back for summer racing.”
