KEY POINTS:
Dave mcgowan carries around in his wallet a small reminder about the mixed luck horse trainers can endure in the racing industry.
The Pukekohe-based trainer has a small stone in his wallet - removed from a hoof of glamour pacing mare One Dream - from the inaugural Harness Jewels day at Ashburton last year.
While McGowan is quick to make the point that the troublesome stone did not contribute to the shock defeat of One Dream in the 3-year-old fillies final, it is a constant reminder about enjoying the moment of training an outstanding athlete.
"Somehow One Dream managed to get a small stone embedded in her hoof right at the back where you pick the hoof when cleaning it and it was a hell of a mission trying to remove it," said McGowan. "I knew the stone was there and it wasn't affecting her soundness but it was annoying her and we had to remove it.
"I ended up getting a Christchurch dentist to come out with a sucker device to get the stone out. He could get to the stone but it wouldn't come out. We had our blacksmith, myself and the dentist working together for 45 minutes as a team and we finally got it.
"After that, I thought I'd keep the stone in my wallet as a souvenir and it reminds me about enjoying my time training this wonderful mare."
One Dream completed an impressive hat-trick of victories in her 4-year-old season when powering to an effortless victory in the $20,000 Matriarch Stakes at Cambridge Raceway on Friday night.
The daughter of Dream Away looped the field to sit outside the pace-setting Top Tempo before drawing clear in the straight to score by three-quarters of a length over Port Courage and Urban Angel.
One Dream equalled the New Zealand record for a mare over 2200m (previously held jointly by Robyn's Treasure and Under Cover Lover) when stopping the clock in 2:41.
McGowan and regular driver Frank Cooney have sounded an ominous warning to other trainers leading into the feature fillies and mares races at Christchurch later this month.
"This preparation she seems more aggressive and focused in her trackwork and it's starting to rub off on her attitude when competing on race night," said McGowan.
One Dream's attitude was still too casual. She would chase a horse and run past, then decide the race was won and pull up.
"Frank told me she could have gone two seconds quicker when winning at Cambridge and that she felt very strong in her warm-up before the race," said McGowan.
"I would still like to see her driven back in the field and let loose to chase other horses as opposed to having to work around the field and be a sitting duck for a late swooper.
"It's not a criticism of Frank's driving style but it's just that circumstances have seen her have to be driven in that way.
"If she comes back and races as a 5-year-old next season she will have to race the Free-For-All horses and that will be something exciting to watch."
