By Joshua Smith, Harness News Desk
Jason Teaz was happy to be on the road to Palmerston North from his Ohaupo base on Wednesday after the Waikato region dropped to Level 2 restrictions on Tuesday night.
The Waikato trainer is heading south with just the one runner for Manawatu Harness Racing Club’s Thursday meeting, with Brookies Jaffa set to contest The Doug Bradley Painter Palmerstonian Cup (2500m).
Teaz, who trains the gelding in partnership with wife Megan, has been eyeing the race for some time and he said the timing couldn’t haven’t been better.
“I had planned to go with him for the last couple of months and it worked out really well,” Teaz said.
“I was starting to lose faith that it was going to happen, but thankfully we were all set to go, so when it (border restriction) was lifted, we were off.”
Teaz elected to bypass Manawatu’s Tuesday meeting but said that was always the plan.
“He raced at Cambridge on Friday night, so were only going to come for this one anyway,” he said.
Brookies Jaffa finished fourth in his Cambridge outing after a tough run and Teaz is hopeful of another bold showing on Thursday.
“He didn’t have much luck on Friday, he got left out parked and it wasn’t the ideal run for him. He still fought on,” Teaz said.
“He is a horse who always looks beaten and then he comes back. I was pretty proud of his effort.
“He is better off in that grade not facing the breeze, but there was no speed on so he had to go and force the issue.”
Teaz will be utilising the services of Canterbury reinsman Peter Davis, who will be steering Brookies Jaffa from gate five.
“I didn’t know (Waikato drivers) David (Butcher) and Todd (Mitchell) were going to be going but as it turned out they would have had drives anyway,” Teaz said.
“I saw that Peter didn’t have a drive in the Wairarapa Cup on Tuesday, so I rang him on Monday and booked him.
“He is a pretty easy horse to drive and I was pretty happy with the draw. Gate five is better than he has got lately, so he has got some options there.
“Hopefully whoever is drawn inside him thinks he is good enough to follow and if not we will have to have a plan B.
“We are happy with him going into the race and we wouldn’t be travelling down if we didn’t think he could win.”
Teaz said he enjoyed his drive south on Wednesday, taking advantage of his newly found freedoms in Level 2.
“It is good to have that freedom and stopping in at the shop to get something along the way was nice too without having to pre-order it,” he said.
“It is good to get out and it will be quite good to see a change of scenery, it has been a while.”
