By BARRY STREET
Game little winter galloper Meteorite earned himself a reprieve from hurdling with his last-to-first effort in the main flat race at Te Rapa on Saturday.
Pukekohe trainer Richard Collett said yesterday that there was much to admire about the way Meteorite went to the line to beat Lost In Paris and Money Machine in the Wealleans Groundspread 2000.
It was the horse's first attempt at a middle distance and took his winning tally to nine - not bad going for a 7-year-old confined mainly until Saturday to midweek graduation open races and jumpers' flats.
Meteorite qualified some time ago as a hurdler in two sessions - the first at Ann and Ken Browne's private hurdle course at Cambridge and the second over battens at Paeroa.
According to Richard Collett, he made much the better job over the Brownes' fences, which are of a synthetic material, not so unyielding as battens, and due to be accepted as regular raceday hurdles.
Therefore, Meteorite's jumps debut will be put on hold until the new hurdles come into use.
"He is quite a unique, almost amazing, little horse," Collett explained.
"All through his career [of 53 races] he has never had any unsoundness or even a leg injury.
"I guess he knows very well how to look after himself. That shows whenever he jumps battens.
"He doesn't flick over them, he clears them. Because of that he spends too much time in the air.
"Over the Brownes' fences he is more economical, so it makes sense to wait till they come into use."
Meteorite's next race, Collett said, could be at Te Awamutu or at the Wellington Racing Club's winter carnival at Trentham.
"I'm thinking about giving him a go at the Winter Oats [a $25,000 2000m at Trentham on July 7] because his best mate in the stable, Cheeko, is going down there for a novice steeplechase.
"On the same day there's the Te Awamutu Cup [a $20,000 2000m], which I believe would be a nice race for him because he goes so well on the course."
Richard Collett and his jockey brother Jim Collett waited until after race six on Saturday before deciding on race tactics.
Their main concern was how best to get Meteorite to last 2000m in a bog. The horse had never raced beyond 1670m.
"After we saw Tunzi come from last to win over 2000m, Jim and I both decided that to lob along at the rear for the first 1200m was the answer," Richard Collett said.
"We weren't keen, though, about taking the short route, as Tunzi did, on the inside.
"We agreed Meteorite would more likely get the distance by making his run on the outer, even though it meant covering extra ground."
A much below-par performance by the race favourite, Just There, proved how difficult the going was on the inner.
From No 1 at the start Just There's rider, Vinny Colgan, could find no escape route from the rails.
As a result, the topweight and favourite became bogged down with his 58kg, losing lengths on the home turn.
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Tunzi's defiance of the racing pattern at Te Rapa on Saturday was the more remarkable because she was ridden by an unknown.
Sixteen-year-old Samantha Spratt was having her first race ride in the Waikato Commerce 2000 and decided herself which route the little 4-year-old mare should take.
Spratt is the latest apprentice to join the Colin Jillings and Richard Yuill stable at Takanini.
Her licence was granted barely 48 hours before her sensational debut.
How ironic it was that her first ride should be on the daughter of a Jillings-Yuill-trained champion, McGinty, who died last week, and a grandddaughter of another Jillings-Yuill champion, Uncle Remus.
Spratt also got to wear the colours made famous by a champion apprentice of the Jillings-Yuill stable, Bob Vance, on Uncle Remus - those of Pukekohe owner-trainer Kim Clotworthy.
"Samantha rode in many pony events, including the New Zealand championships, before she decided to become a jockey," Yuill said.
"She was a natural from the day she arrived, only 47kg wringing wet but very strong for her size.
"She already knew how to ride and handle any horse. All she needed was an adaptation to racing.
"At the training track Jillo and I don't have to hand-pick her rides. She can ride any horse."
Yuill confidently predicts that Spratt will not be a 4.5kg-claiming apprentice for long.
Racing: Meteorite flashes home to gain hurdles respite
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