A late decision to let El Chico take his chance in the Listed Timaru Cup proved to be a masterstroke with the Riccarton marvel once again upstaging his younger rivals.
The evergreen 9-year-old handed age, weight and a beating to his rivals in the Coupland's Bakeries-sponsored feature at the Phar Lap Raceway yesterday for the 19th victory of his career.
John Parsons and I were talking this morning and he said he was pulling Arietta out and at 6.55am I wasn't going to run him because of the track and it was only when Arietta scratched that I decided to, trainer Michael Pitman said.
He's been very unlucky in this race before and he's just a grouse old horse.
El Chico sat off the speed and came with a well-timed finish in the straight to down the pacemaker Dr Dee Bee, who was in receipt of two kilos. It was a beautiful ride by Terry (Moseley), Pitman said.
