Taranaki horsewoman Tracey Bliss didn’t even have Group One company on her radar until a week ago for Ifndoubtgetout.
But a quick glance at early nominations for the Gr.1 Telegraph (1200m) convinced her to have a crack with her quirky gelding.
Now she not only has a placing at the top level, she also has a Group One-producing broodmare at home.
Ifndoubtgetout had been running well without winning this season, and on January 7 he put in a solid effort to take third at Trentham behind Shamus and Is That So in an open 1100m handicap.
Backing up a week later in the Telegraph wasn’t part of the plan. But then Bliss saw the nominations list on Tuesday morning.
“I saw the field and there weren’t that many top sprinters in it. I wasn’t confident that we’d beat Levante and Babylon Berlin, but I thought we could get a placing with it,” she said.
“It was too good an opportunity to pass up on. I had faith that he wouldn’t disgrace himself.”
Bliss has a background in the industry. She was the partner of leading New Plymouth trainer Allan Sharrock for more than 15 years and worked alongside him for most of that time.
She now lives in Inglewood and trains her horses at Stratford. She has two horses in work at present: Ifndoubtgetout and Rosesrred, an unraced three-year-old filly – but will have some others returning to the track in the winter months.
She also has some beef cattle on her property, but said neither they nor the horses are her first priority.
“Firstly I’m a mother,” she said.
Her dedication to her two children – Flynn, 19, and Becky, 17 – means she’s going to spend significant time out of the country in the next few months rather than focus too much on her horses.
“Becky is getting to live a lifelong dream and compete at the world cheerleading championships in Florida in April with two teams,” Bliss said.
“It’s going to be a fantastic experience, but because of that I felt a bit sorry for Flynn that he wasn’t getting an overseas adventure and I asked him where he would like to go.
“So we’re heading out on Monday to spend two weeks in Japan and South Korea. It’s going to be a bit of a disrupted season.”
Bliss bred Ifndoubtgetout out of her Spartacus mare Latino Lady, who she had ridden when she was with Sharrock.
“She was going up for sale and the kids weren’t very old then. She’d only had five starts and I think the best she did was fifth, but she was a beautiful galloper and I said the kids could buy her for me for Mother’s Day, and they bought her for me for $500.
“My uncle stands Ifndoubtgetout’s sire Keano, which is why she went to him.”
Bliss said the six-year-old had always shown a lot of speed, but he required a lot of time to mature.
“He’s not always the most well-behaved. He hasn’t been the easiest horse to get where he is, and he has a few quirks,” she said.
“That’s how he got his name. I’d be riding him and if he’d see something he didn’t like, he never used to pick up pace, he’d never alter stride but he’d just change course and he’d end up two tracks over. The name just came to me because of that.”
Added to the quirks is the fact he needs to have space around him to be at his best.
“If he draws barrier one that’s the worst thing for him, and I swear he’s drawn it half the time, because he hates being in amongst them. I think he’s just so competitive and he gets a bit grumpy if he’s in amongst them.”
With the trip to Japan on its way, Bliss is giving Ifndoubtgetout a short break, but she will return him to training once she’s back and then aim for the Listed Lightning Handicap (1200m) at Trentham in March.
“Ultimately I think 1400m will be his best distance. Craig (Zackey, jockey) said he didn’t have quite enough pace to be up on the speed with them early but he finished off really well.
“He’s had a go at 1400m before, but he drew one that day and it was a non-event that one.”
Bliss still has Latino Lady, and has bred him back again to Keano, a dual Listed winner in Australia who stands at Sentry Hill Farms in New Plymouth.
“I only breed every other year,” she said. “She’s back in foal to Keano again, and she’s got a nice yearling full sister to this guy – and she’s got a bit of her brother’s attitude as well.”
