KEY POINTS:
Strange game the racing game.
It looked to be a tough day when Jason Waddell lost the ride on Il Quello Veloce early last month after doing practically all the preparatory work on the extremely smart juvenile filly.
A month's suspension through almost all of January cost Waddell dearly at a time when he'd worked hard to put his riding career back at the top level.
It would have cost him the winning ride in the $1 million Karaka Million had Il Quello Veloce's luck not severely run out in the Ellerslie home straight.
So how do you explain the racing fortune when Waddell throws his leg over Te Akau Coup for the first time on Saturday afternoon and downs Il Quello Veloce in the $120,000 Robin, Duke of Bedford Matamata Breeders Stakes?
In the crazy game of thoroughbred racing, sometimes you're winning at exactly the moment when you think you're losing.
Waddell not only won the country's feature race on Saturday, he did it in spectacular style.
Top class horsemen don't always play it safe and Waddell was happy to take a major risk to stick to hard against the inside rail when rival jockeys were swinging wide on the bend on the rain-affected track.
"I'd planned to do it," said Waddell, who'd announced before racing started that his one wish for the day was to take the Stakes.
"When I went down in the previous race, I noticed that because the horses had mainly been swinging wide the inside patch was only slightly marked."
When the barrier draws came out for Saturday's meeting it looked good when Waddell's mounts in the features, Te Akau Coup and Crown Of Thorns both drew No 1, but that turned into a negative when the rain arrived.
Waddell's attempt to turn a negative into a positive had spectacular results.
"Te Akau Coup had had only one start and wasn't as seasoned as the others and I figured if I could save some ground on the bend it would work in her favour."
Most of the other runners went so wide Te Akau Coup went from three lengths behind the pace to three lengths in front on straightening and Il Quello Veloce, as game as anything, couldn't quite make up the deficit.
It was a nice touch that Il Quello Veloce's trainer John Sargent, for whom Waddell works, was the first in the weigh-in area to congratulate Waddell.
Te Akau Coup was one of three runners for local trainer Mark Walker and stable rider Opie Bosson had the choice of mounts.
"Opie chose Bankside Belle, I think, because it had had two races, but after Tuesday trackwork I think he might not have been too sure [he'd chosen right]."
It was Walker's first win in the race, he says, he's wanted to win for a number of years.
Waddell won it two years ago on the ill-fated Naturo at his only other ride in the race.
"Matamata's my home town now and it's nice to win the big race of the year on your home track."
Waddell had a gut feeling.
"When I won on Naturo she too had had one previous run in a minor race for a win and had been ridden in that by Darryl Bradley.
"She'd also drawn the No 1 barrier.
"It was like it was meant to be."
Te Akau Coup might have won one of the country's icon juvenile events, but Mark Walker rates the filly more of a 3-year-old type.
"I think she's looking to be a 3-year-old. I haven't spoken to Ray Coupland [owner] about it yet, but if he agrees she might have had her last start as a 2-year-old.
"I'm sure Ray would love to win the 1000 Guineas next season on his home track [Riccarton]."
Te Akau boss David Ellis paid $150,000 for Te Akau Coup at Karaka.
"At Karaka I asked David after the purchase who he'd bought her for and he said he didn't have an owner. I said to Ray, 'let's go for a walk'."
The filly is the first stakes winner for Windsor Park stallion Thorn Park.
If there is any justice Il Quello Veloce will win one of the remaining juvenile features, the Ford Diamond Stakes at Ellerslie and the Ford Manawatu Sires Produce Stakes.
Raid was game in fighting hard for third and there was a gap to the remainder, many of whom seemed to struggle in the conditions.* Paul Duncan would like to think he's left his season's bad luck behind him with Pinsoir's sprint win on Saturday.
"Most of my other good horses have fallen away," said Duncan after Pinsoir gritted his way to a narrow win over Stateswoman and Kirra Sand.
The $60,000 Lightning Stakes at Trentham on March 15 would seem like a natural race for Pinsoir, but Duncan is unsure.
"I'd like to take him there, but he's not a great traveller. I'll see."
BREEDERS STAKES
* Jason Waddell managed to turn a negative into a positive.
* His daring ride on Te Akau Coup paid off massively to take the major prize.
* He beat the favourite, Il Quello Veloce, a filly he has done much of the development on.
