KEY POINTS:
Business life is all about contacts and Danielle Johnson has more than she's probably ever going to need.
The 16-year-old daughter of topline jockey Peter Johnson rode her first winner, The Sportsman, at Ellerslie on Saturday and it started her on a career that will almost certainly leave
behind some important contacts.
When Danielle Johnson first began riding work for The Sportsman's co-trainer Russell Cameron she met the main client for whom Cameron and Gareth McCrae train, Westbury Stud owner and international businessman Eric Watson.
Watson apparently took a shine to the teenager, who is now under the wing of Cameron and Westbury's manager Russell Warwick.
"If this [riding career] doesn't work out, I've got a lot of contacts in other areas you can use," Watson told Danielle Johnson. That doesn't seem likely.
Johnson's parents, Annabelle and Peter, watched The Sportsman's race on the television monitor in the press room on Saturday.
Rounding the home turn you couldn't help but make the comment: "She's exactly where the old man would have been."
That was in the one-out and one-back spot and waiting to pounce - Peter Johnson was one of New Zealand's finest tactical jockeys, something arch- rival Lance O'Sullivan always acknowledged.
If one factor characterised The Sportsman's run to the finish it was the lack of panic. It's understandable when a young apprentice gets excited 100m from the finish of their first win, but this was achieved with almost complete calm.
"She's very cool," said Cameron in admiration. "When I legged Danielle on the horse she was very calm and collected."
Said Peter Johnson: "That's appropriate. My first winner, Storming, was here at Ellerslie and so was my 100th - Lord Marbet."
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Evan Rayner says it at this time every year - there are not enough monied races around for Baltaine. Yet when he won with Baltaine at Ellerslie on Saturday, Rayner took the horse's earnings to $236,000, outstanding for a winter sprinter.
And thanks to Daniel Hain's apprentice allowance Baltaine carried only 54.5kg, just 1.5kg above the minimum weight. You can call that good placing.
But Rayner knows he can only target the big-money races with Baltaine.
"I wanted to take him to Queensland, but my owner said: 'No!'
"I'll have to take on the Winter Cup."
Baltaine had not run since finishing at the back of the field behind Jurys Out at Hastings in late October. Rayner said he had Baltaine ready to win for three weeks.
"But I had to wait for the money [$40,000] and a wet track. There was no way I was running him on a firm track - I did that two years ago and lost him for the whole winter."
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If Roger James ran racing we'd be seeing a plethora of 1400m and 1600m juvenile races at this time of year. The Cambridge trainer won the 1600m $50,000 Network Visuals Champagne Stakes with impressive filly Valpolicella and said it was the only race of the juvenile season she could win in New Zealand.
That might sound like a trainer being selfish with the racing calendar to suit one of his horses at a specific point, but to be fair to James he has been calling for more 2-year-old races longer than 1200m for nearly a decade.
"For a country so embedded in breeding staying horses, we have nowhere near enough races for the type of horse we produce," he said on Saturday.
Pacemaker Jacob was so far in front on the home bend it appeared he had to win even if he shortened stride. He did, possibly even to a significant level, but that wasn't the reason Valpolicella got past.
The Red Ransom filly produced a remarkable staying performance from third last in a strung out field to sweep by and win comfortably.
Valpolicella looked a 100-1 chance at the 500m and actually won quite easily.
"This is a serious racehorse," said winning rider Gavin McKeon.
Valpolicella will now spell.
You can bet a lot of money one word will be on James' mind as he loads the filly onto the float to head to the spelling paddock - Oaks.
