Racing: Bit of Luck goes long way at muddy Ellerslie

If Te Aroha owner-trainer Dave Smyth needs any convincing that his horse Luck's A Fortune will manage the heavy conditions at Ellerslie tomorrow, he needs only to cast his mind back a decade or so.

Smyth readily recalls the win at Ellerslie in August, 1995, by his mare Elfa Leather, who just happens to be the dam of Luck's A Fortune.

That day marked her first of five wins, when she set a record of a different sort by winning over 1575m in the unbelievably slow time of 2:02.5.

"Someone said that down the road at Alexandra Park the night before the trotters were running a faster time," said Smyth as he reflected on his mare's dubious honour.

"Fortunately I know from what this horse has done that he won't mind whatever conditions he strikes. He's real tough, a grinder that will bash away all day, so I guess you've got to give his mother a fair bit of the credit for that."

Elfa Leather was trained by former Matamata partnership Ray and Sharon Johnson and it was only when they decided to hand their licences in that Smyth entered the owner-trainer ranks.

Lately the stock agent's conditioning skills have been a revelation.

When Luck's A Fortune won at Avondale nine days ago it took his tally to four from 17 starts, while his sole current stablemate Not A Word has won twice from the same number of attempts.

Smyth works for one of the Waikato's largest stock buyers, Warren Robinson, who still holds a public trainers' licence and is the son of the late Leo Robinson, the trainer and part-owner amongst others of former Melbourne Cup winner Van Der Hum.

Smyth owns Luck's A Fortune in partnership with his wife Kate, father Ron and brother Phil, but takes full responsibility for seeing to the needs of the sometimes cantankerous gelding.

"You can work him on a loose rein around home, but he winds up when you take him somewhere different.

"He'll bite or kick you given half a chance.

"I don't mind, though, so long as he keeps doing the job."