Former quality three-year-old Pier made a welcome return to racing at Te Aroha on Monday when he strode to an impressive first-up victory in an open 1300m contest.
The strapping son of outstanding Rich Hill Stud stallion Proisir hadn’t been seen since finishing sixth in the Group 1 Arrowfield Stakes (1600m) at Hastings last September, and has subsequently been rehabilitating a cannon bone issue.
Prepared by the father-and-daughter training partnership of Darryn and Briar Weatherley, the now four-year-old warmed up for his assignment with a comfortable victory over 1000m at the Te Aroha trials last month.
Rider Sam Weatherley allowed the gelding to find his feet at the rear of the field and was still back a clear last with 600m to travel.
Pier looped the field rounding the home bend and once he found clear air out widest on the track, he unleashed a powerful sprint that carried him to a convincing one length victory over Dusty Road who fought on bravely after making the pace throughout and Fonteyn who stuck well for third.
Weatherley was delighted with the result, although his first reaction was one of relief.
“A big sigh of relief and very happy to see him do that,” he said.
“The big question mark for me was the track, which was more testing than we would have liked, but like a good horse he copped everything that was thrown at him and still got the job done.
“I also thought he may be one run short, but those really top athletes just have that ability to give their best even when not everything is in their favour and he showed that today.”
Weatherley has always held the highest opinion of his charge and that hasn’t changed over the past year.
“It has been a real exercise in patience as he had that niggly problem and we had to give him a good break,” he said.
“We did everything we were told and his x-rays since then have been very good.
“He handled his trial well, so we pressed on and now he has had this race I’m going to tip him out again and get ready for the spring.
“This will have topped up his confidence as it has certainly done it for me, so now I can’t wait to get him back in and have him show people just how good he is.”
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