By MIKE DILLON
No one has ever accused Gary Grylls of gushing.
You ask him on Saturday for his opinion of dashing Ellerslie winner The Pumper and he says: "That's not a good horse, that's a GOOD horse."
If you saw The Pumper destroy the opposition with contemptuous ease, you would agree.
This was no ordinary win.
The Pumper was racing two grades out of his class, he ran the 1600m in an incredibly fast 1.34.14, won by five and a quarter lengths and was almost literally doing threequarter pace for the last 100m.
And Grylls at no stage pressed the button.
"He could have won by another six lengths if I'd really asked him."
It will take an extraordinary performance to beat him in the $A460,000 Rosehill Guineas on March 31.
* * *
Lloyd Burdett doesn't make outlandish statements, at least not in public.
So when he says Ismailia will win an Auckland Cup one day, it's worth listening to.
He even declared that to his co-owner Betty Paviour after Ismailia gamely held out joint favourite Hello Dolly in the $40,000 Genesis Star Belle Classic on Saturday.
Burdett is a builder by trade who gave the horses away for 30 years and these days trains just two.
He was quick to deflect any credit for Ismailia's fine form, suggesting his trackwork rider Lorraine Cave was the key to his operation.
"I'm just the mug who chucks them a feed of oats every now and then."
Not quite.
Rider Michael Coleman did not disagree with Burdett's predictions on Ismailia's future.
"That was a good effort because she had to work a bit," he said.
"At the 100m I thought Hello Dolly was going to get past us, but she fought back really well.
"She's not very big, but she's got a lot of strength."
Burdett does not want to do too much more with Ismailia for fear of getting additional weight for races like the Auckland Cup.
He will put the mare with two pins in a leg aside and says he will concentrate on skiting to his wife how good the horse is.
* * *
Stephen McKee was shaking his head after Laughing Cavalier scored a mildly surprising win in the Bridgecorp 2200 on Saturday.
"Amazing isn't it, we were going to sack this horse when he went to the Thames races in January.
"Now he's won three of his last four races.
"You never really know, do you?"
Laughing Cavalier did well to grind out the win after sitting three deep for much of the last 1400m.
* * *
Craig Ritchie's theory that former tearaway leader Madhuri Dixit would be better ridden in behind won her Saturday's $20,000 Westmed Open.
The No1 barrier draw was a key factor, but Madhuri Dixit came out of the trail so fast for Lee Rutherford it almost cost her the win.
"As soon as she got to the front on her own you could see her start to prick her ears and look around," said Ritchie.
Madhuri Dixit loafed to the point that Party Queen lunged and missed by only one stride to pick her up.
* * *
Tony Allan proved a better judge than Jocelyn Burley on Saturday.
Burley traditionally puts $100 to win on each of the horses she takes to the races from the small team she trains at Cambridge.
She broke with that tradition for My Happiness on Saturday.
"I had the money here to put on her," said Burley flashing a $100 note, "but I just couldn't see her winning with 58kg topweight."
My Happiness sprinted past the leaders in the home straight as though she had 48kg on her back.
"Tony said to me: "Are you putting a ticket on her for me"
"I said no, I don't think she can win with that weight.
"Tony said: "She'll win."
My Happiness looks ready for stronger company and Burley said she would try and find a suitable back type race for the mare.
Racing: Ease of victory gets jockey all Pumped up
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.