by Michael Guerin
There may have been stranger debut victories than Manakau Blaze’s stunner at Blenheim on Friday.
You will be hard pressed to find them.
The seven-year-old trotting mare was having her first career start and went into it without a trial in eight months.
Yet she won by a staggering 15 and a half lengths from trainer-driver Barry Ford, who just to add to the fun hadn’t driven a winner for four years and only three in the last 10 years.
And yet this trainer-driver who rarely trains or drives and his mare who had never been to the races recorded one of the easiest wins in recent New Zealand harness racing history.
Which raises the questions: How? Who? Why?
“It is a funny story,” says Ford, who as you can probably guess also bred and owns Manakau Blaze.
“She has always had ability and is a half sister to our good horse, Doctor Bones, who won nine races and ran second in the Jewels.
“But every time I have taken her to the trials she has been lame afterwards.
“It is nothing serious, nothing to do with ligaments or bone damage, so we think it is is in feet.
“I got to the stage we even considered retiring her before we raced her but we have changed her work and now she pretty much just trots on
he lead behind the other horses.”
Believing in his breed and his mare Ford, whose age is an undisclosed number between 70 and 80, decided the best way to stop Manakau Blaze from getting tender after a trial was to just not trial.
“So we found this race on the grass which we thought would help and just set her for this.
“I was a bit worried when she drew barrier 1 because that can be hard for them in their first start.”
Ford didn’t need to worry.
His seven-year-old sweetheart was soon in front and a long way from home only she or trailer Go Home Denise could win but Denise rolled into a gallop when challenging at the 200m and Manakau Blaze raced clear to win by the massive margin.
“It was a pretty fun ride,” smiles Ford.
It was his 22nd career training win dating back to 1990 and his 14th in the sulky but if Manakau Blaze is proof of anything it is that Ford is a patient man.
“So we won’t be backing her up on Sunday,” he told HRNZ.
“She can get over this and there is a fillies and mares trot at Amberley [Rangiora, Feb 6] coming up she can have a go at.”
That is only three weeks away, nothing when you have waited years for the moment Manakau Blaze and Barry Ford shared trotting down the Blenheim straight on Friday.
By the way there were 11 other winners at Blenheim on Friday, all with their own stories.
But Friday belonged to Barry and Blaze.