Reaching significant milestones is a familiar feat for Jim Collett, yet his 100th training victory at Matamata on Sunday held a particularly sentimental touch.
Samantha Collett, his daughter and a skilled jockey, had returned to the country for a working holiday. Jim Collett found immense delight in her piloting Red Sniper to triumph, propelling his training accomplishments to an impressive 100 wins.
With a rich history of over 1500 wins as a jockey, Collett confessed that he only became aware of his impending milestone earlier in the week.
“I didn’t really know about it until I was told at the track the other morning that I was on 99 wins,” he said.
“I have been training horses for a fair while but with small numbers. I rode a lot more winners as a jockey, but it was nice to do it with Sam riding the horse. I didn’t tell her before the race.”
Red Sniper had shown plenty of ability in his trials, finishing runner-up in three heats before winning his last outing over 800m earlier this month prior to his debut victory.
“I had a fair bit of confidence in the horse. He trialled well and things had to go right in the race,” Collett said.
“He has still got a bit to learn, but he has got the ability to go forward in life. He didn’t do much wrong in the race but he still has got to learn how to quicken up in a race.”
Red Sniper is out of Red Striker, a mare Collett trained to four victories, including the Listed Hallmark Stud Handicap (1200m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day in 2015 with Sam aboard.
“His mother (Red Striker) was good. She won five races for me, and a group race, so if he can be half as good as her it would be good,” he said.
Red Striker’s stakes victory was a massive highlight for Collett, but he said his biggest training moment came in 2007 when he trained and rode El Cuento to win the Listed Fairview Ford Slipper (1200m).
“When I won on El Cuento in a stakes race – I rode him and I trained him. He was sold on to Hong Kong and was a pretty smart horse,” he said.
“A lot of horses I train end up going to Hong Kong. A few of them have gone on to Class 1, and I will always remember those ones.
“I remember every client who has given me a horse, and I thank them for that.”
Collett is enjoying training at his boutique operation, where he only ever has up to seven in work, and he is hoping to extend his winning tally at Cambridge this week with Martell.
“Martell will race on the synthetic on Wednesday,” he said. “He is a little bit better on the grass but he is fresh and could run a pretty cheeky race.”
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