Racing: Training routine timed to perfection

Early last century, Tessio came up with the greatest quote when he said there is only one determining factor in horse racing - that lump of wood they call a winning post.

The composition might have changed from wood, but Te Aroha horseman Graeme Nicholson didn't care as he watched Time Keeper sail past the winning post dramatically clear of the opposition in Saturday's $200,000 Land Pride Easter Handicap at Ellerslie.

The peripheral chat about the stable's racing and training methods meant less than nothing compared with that winning post.

Talk is cheap, action is everything in horse racing.

That doesn't mean Time Keeper's win wasn't head-shaking.

Every bit as head-shaking as the results Graeme Nicholson and Paul Allbon only weeks ago achieved with the similarly, seemingly over-raced, in the eyes of many, Sir Slick.

Time Keeper finished fifth in the 2400m $2.2 million Telecom Derby in the first week of March.

Of those who competed in that extremely tough race, Military Move, Corporal Jones, Martial Art, No Emotion, Jungle Juice, Imabayboy, Ballybit, Volgus, Smokin' Gun and Katy Lee have not been seen since.

Handsome Zulu, Zarzuela, Monaco Consul and King Raedwald have had one start each.

Time Keeper has had four starts for three wins and a fifth, getting better with each one and scoring his career best victory on Saturday.

It was his 17th start for the season, the longest break between runs being the 24 days between the first and second runs back in August.

The rest have been one or two weeks.

It shows there are no rules in horse racing and hardened professionals in the training ranks were completely blown away at Ellerslie on Saturday.

Said one hardcase: "I've got to go. I might just get home in time to work my horse for a second time today, obviously it's the answer."

One of racing's greatest thinkers was standing off to the side, exuding admiration.

John Wheeler couldn't stop smiling.

"I love it when this sort of thing happens."

The Taranaki trainer has never been frightened to push the boundaries of conventional thinking when it came to a horse's workload if he thought it was appropriate for that particular animal.

It's won Wheeler glory on many occasions.

"To be honest, some trainers get very precious about their horses.

"This shows you what can be achieved. It's good for racing."

And it's not over yet - Time Keeper is heading to the Queensland Derby and will leave for Australia with Sir Slick in a couple of weeks.

As much as this last group one win for the season was about Time

Keeper, it was also about rider Mark Sweeney.

Boots, as he is affectionately known, has had to endure a relatively tough time since being badly smashed up in a riding accident at a Cambridge barrier trial meeting several years ago.

If the wins have diminished, the affection for one of racing's most popular ever figures has not.

Sweeney could barely make it back to the jockeys' room.

Five minutes after weighing in, with saddle remaining over his arm, he was still receiving hugs outside the sauna in front of the male and female jockeys' rooms.

The genuine affection was precious.

"I can't believe they let me get the front as easily as I did," he said almost in wonder.

The danger signs for the opposition were there when Time Keeper and Sweeney shot a couple of lengths clear soon after rounding the home bend.

The 3-year-old has remarkable determination and with only 51kg on his back he was clearly going to take some pulling back, as one or a group of punters must have worked out late in betting. Time Keeper's price was crunched in late from $18 to $12.20.

It had been 20 years since a 3-year-old had won the Easter and Pukekohe filly November Rain made it a quinella by running home hard down the outside for second.

Had Obsession drawn well and had not had to go back to last early she almost certainly would have made it a 3-year-old trifecta. She ran on into sixth, close up to third-placed Sir Slick.

With 75m to run it was impossible to think Sir Slick could get up to run third, particularly under his 59kg topweight.

With his massive heart, that's won him two million dollars he bulldozed past the horses around him to take the $19,000 for third.

$200,000 EASTER

* Time Keeper proved he is an iron horse with his runaway victory.
* At his 17th 3-year-old start he made them look ordinary, and they weren't.
* November Rain made it a 3-year-old Easter quinella.