Racing: Misfortune opens door for Hagar

Hagar will probably get a chance to win Avondale's Concorde simply because of bad luck experienced by his trainer Anne Herbert.

The bad luck is the year away from racing top sprinter Baldessarini needs to recover from the tendon injuries he was found to have after failing at Rotorua last week.

That's horrendous luck for Baldessarini's owners and a bit of good fortune for Hagar's connections.

Herbert is playing with the idea of a Concorde run next month after Hagar returned to racing with a gutsy win at Avondale on Saturday.

"His best distance is actually 1400m, but I might freshen him and look at the 1200m of the Concorde because Baldessarini will be missing and Gee I Jane will be in Australia by then," said Herbert.

Herbert was swayed by the depth of Hagar's winning performance on Saturday.

"He handled Avondale really well considering he hadn't raced right-handed before."

Herbert owned up to a little embarrassment over the win - she engaged Corey Parish thinking he could claim an apprentice allowance, but as the richest race on the programme, the Jack Coughlan Memorial was not open to allowances.

"Look, I'm so embarrassed. When Corey rang for the ride I had the programme in front of me and I quickly looked and saw 'apprentice allowances', so I said, yes, he could have the ride.

"It wasn't until I ended the call that I noticed that on the line above the words apprentice allowances was the word 'no'.

"I nearly called Corey back to take him off the horse and I thought, no, I've promised him a raceday ride previously.

"I thought I'll leave him on and if he does not follow instructions I can always take him off for next time."

Parish rides Hagar like Darren Beadman. He did not engage in a speed duel up front on the fresh sprinter, took a perfect sit in the trail behind the speed and did not go around one horse to lodge his challenge.

"Corey could not have ridden him better. I told him to make sure he didn't grab him too tight through the reins and when the horse played up in the gates he didn't grab hold of him, he just sat quietly.

"Everything I asked him to do he did perfectly."

Hagar is no Baldessarini, but Herbert expects a big campaign from the speedster.

"I know it sounds silly to say this of a 7-year-old, but he's finally matured.

"He's carrying a lot more weight than he used to and I reckon he's grown.

Herbert took the unusual step of giving Hagar a run at the Cambridge barrier trials last Tuesday.

"I did it to get a line on how forward he was. You can't gallop him with another horse because he's prone to getting a fright and bolting, so the barrier trial was the best option."

Baldessarini is currently being confined to his box at Herbert's stable for the initial stages of mending the tendon damage.

"The branches of both flexor tendons are damaged - it's an acute injury and the vets have said he'll be out for at least 12 months.

"Lisa [Cropp] said he slipped coming out of the barriers at Rotorua and then got bumped by Mi Jubilee, so he's done it in the early stages of the race.

"I'm completely devastated, but I suppose it's not a [human] life - it's a race horse."