Racing: Surprizer win satisfies

Rudy Liefting has had richer highs this season with his champion filly Justa Tad.

Few victories, however, were more satisfying than his $36 upset with Surprizer Phew at Hawera on Saturday.

On the score of form reversals, Surpriser Phew is the best named horse racing - he beat just two home in his first three starts.

Then there's Liefting's emotional history with Surprizer Phew's dam, Windsor Phew, the stayer who put the Takanini trainer on the map.

It was six years ago now that Windsor Phew ran the race of her life to be nosed out of the Avondale Cup by Trounced, only to be relegated back to third in the inquiry room.

One minute Liefting was a nose off $100,000, the next driving home with just $11,000 and disillusioned with the whole game.

"Still to this day just talking about that day makes me mad. I've never forgotten how the unfairness of that decision made me feel," said Liefting.

Liefting hasn't quite got even with Surprizer Phew yet, but the way he dented a stack of reputations in the Bernie Fleming Memorial at Hawera he's well on the way to balancing the books.

"He's always shown us plenty of ability at the track, but if he doesn't get the lead he just doesn't seem to try, it's as simple as that," said Liefting, who is still to decide where to head next with his 3-year-old.

"You just can't get too confident with him. His first three runs were atrocious.

"Then we put a hood on him and my wife Megan rode him in a highweight to sort him out."

The difference at Avondale on July 13 was like night and day.

Megan Liefting kicked the Prized 3-year-old straight to the front and they cleared out to win by 10 lengths.

It was such a staggering turnaround that when the Egmont club rang Rudy Liefting to lure him down with promising stablemate Travis for their $30,000, 3-year-old feature, his wife convinced him the maiden graduate Surprizer Phew was the better chance.

"Megan pointed out that he'd actually won the same day in a better time than Travis over the same trip."

The Lieftings, however, still had to get Suprizer Phew to the Hawera track.

Rudy Liefting admits he was ready to scratch the horse early Friday afternoon after a stone bruise flared soon after Surprizer Phew's morning work.

If it wasn't for farrier Paul Nash making a detour from a shopping trip on his day off to patch up the injury with cotton wool and a plastic plate, Liefting would have pulled the pin.

Then when he arrived on the track he found that apprentice Ronald Stam, who he'd booked for the ride, couldn't make the agreed weight.

Liefting made an 11th hour decision to draft in Patrick Holmes and the comeback apprentice rode a copybook race.

While Liefting plots a follow-up, he's already settled on Justa Tad's eagerly awaited return.

His Australian Oaks runner-up tunes up for another trip across the Tasman in a restricted open 1200m at Taupo on August 17.

Her next race will be in the Lets Elope Stakes (1400m) in Melbourne on September 3.

Larry Cassidy has been booked for the ride and Liefting hopes to retain his services through to the filly's main target, the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley on October 22.

"Larry said he'll go anywhere to ride her - he even wanted to come over to ride her at Taupo but Vinny [Colgan] will be on board then."