Fast-improving stayer Complicate booked herself a ticket to Saturday’s Listed Positive Signs and Print Dunedin Gold Cup (2400m) with a gusty victory at Ashburton on Sunday.
Complicate joined the Timaru stable of Brett Inglis in June last year after recording two wins for Wayne Hillis, showing a particular affinity for wet track conditions. Since heading to the South Island, the mare has been consistent on all surfaces, winning two in a row at Ashburton and Wingatui through December before a game third behind Mr Intelligence at the latter earlier this month.
Inglis had a long-term goal of making the $170,000 feature on Otago Classics Day, but with his mare sitting on 75 rating points, he opted to head back to Canterbury with the hope of securing a place in the field.
Complicate was well-liked in the market for the Gallagher Insurance (2200m) closing at $4.40, the second-favourite behind Lombardi, who was contending with a clear 60kg top-weight.
Local hoop Kylie Williams continued her association with the mare and allowed her to stride up to the lead, with Lombardi trailing on the fence. Complicate had it all her own way along the back straight and began to put the pressure on turning for home, and despite being headed by Star Ballot at the 50m, she fought back to get up by a nose in the photo finish.
Inglis was rapt with the performance, with a quiet five days to come for his charge before heading back to Wingatui.
“It was good, she’s a good little talent and I was very pleased with her run,” he said.
“We were aiming to get to the Dunedin Gold Cup and I said to Victoria (Caseley, co-owner) before her first start for me that my goal was to get to that race, so it’s been a work in progress and we’re just about there.
“She was sitting on 75 points and I don’t think that would’ve been enough to make the field, so we went to Ashburton and she probably had to win to get in. Also, if she hadn’t won yesterday she probably wasn’t good enough to go to the race, so it’s great she’ll get her chance and Kylie will be sticking with her as well.
“She’s very fit and clean-winded, so she’ll just have a quiet week leading into Saturday. She can go for a trot around the road tomorrow then we’ll head to the track on Wednesday for a quiet canter, she doesn’t need much.”
A daughter of Complacent, Complicate was bred by the late Don Skelton, who Inglis met through an online racing platform over two decades ago. Skelton raced her dam, Kate, who won two races and ran fifth in the Gr.2 Wakeful Stakes (2000m) at Flemington, before gifting her to Inglis as a broodmare.
“I met Don Skelton on RaceCafe about 20 years ago, we started chatting and went up and met him, and since then, he’s given us about eight horses and a couple of them were pretty handy as well,” Inglis said. “He was a breeder for a long time.
“He gave us Kate, the dam, about five years ago. He still had Complicate and raced her with Wayne and Vanessa (Hillis), then before he passed, he wanted give Victoria the option of racing her. She asked me if I was interested in taking a share in her and training her myself and I said yes please, and she came to me about six months ago.
“She’s going really well, she’s always had ability but just needed time to strengthen up.”
Before trying his hand in training, Inglis had been involved in the industry in multiple capacities, including as an apprentice jockey and a small-time breeder.
“I was an apprentice for three-and-a-half years before I got too fat, but I had about 250 raceday rides back in the seventies,” he said.
“I got away from racing for a while before I met my partner, who had a couple of thoroughbred broodmares, and we decided to breed a few horses ourselves. We’ve been breeding for the last 25 years, just pottering around with a few horses and we have three two-year-olds and a yearling at home.
“We sent a horse to a friend to train but after seeing the costs, I thought I may as well have a go myself, so I started riding trackwork again and got my license about ten years ago.
“I still work 40 hours a week, during the summer I do my horses before work and then at this time of the year, I go into the track after work.
“I love the horses, it’s a hobby and I don’t do it to make money, it’s for enjoyment. We celebrate the wins like the Melbourne Cup, it’s a really good thrill. We’ve had some handy horses, a couple that have raced in the New Zealand Cup and the Grand National.
“It’s good fun.”