The twice-retired Masterton galloper Cent Home proved there is still plenty of life in the old boy yet by winning the $15,000 Manawatu Cup Trial at the Manawatu Racing Club's meeting at Awapuni on Saturday.
It was Cent Home's 12 th win from 42 starts and took his earnings to nearly $750,000 and savouring the victory was trainer Jim Wallace who had been forced to "retire" Centv Home twice because of injury problems.
The last of those occasions came when an old leg injury flared up while he was in the stable of Matamata trainer Lance O'Sullivan.
He was sent home with his racing days seemingly over but when Wallace's father Jim senior, a veterinary surgeon, saw Cent Home he had other ideas.
The suggestion was to put the nine-year-old back in work and he improved to the point where Wallace was hopeful of a good showing on Saturday.
"His work has been good for the last two or three weeks, it's just been a matter of getting him fit," Wallace said.
The $60,000 Manawatu Cup this coming Saturday is a possible target for Cent Home although Wallace said he would probably be reserved for the group one $150,000 Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie on January 3.
The Zabeel will attract a quality field and while Wallace admits to being unsure of how Cent Home would handle that class these days he says he was deserving of "having a go"".
Cent Home gets up at Awapuni
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