The Masterplan

It’s quite simple really. Change everything…and hope that something works!

Get him on new feed and supplements, shoe him differently, remove the blinkers, train him differently and most importantly, give him a complete change of environment. Hallelujah Brother was originally going directly to Wingatui, but it dawned on me that he had lived almost exclusively, on or around, a racecourse for the last 3 years. Surely, he must benefit from a complete change, and I mean, who doesn’t love a break at the beach?

Amber Hoffman was an obvious next port of call. Amber trains both trotters and gallopers from her outstanding property right on the beach at Waikouaiti. Over the years I’ve had a couple of horses who have needed beach training with her, so my fingers were crossed that she would agree to my proposal. Thankfully she agreed for me to train Hallelujah Brother from her base for a few weeks, while he freshened up for his first run. In my mind, training him in the beach environment was critical to having him fresh and ready for us to execute our first up coup.

But then he arrived precisely and not surprisingly, at the exact same moment as the first fly in the ointment. He was very fit and healthy when he left Opaki but it was also obvious that the 3 days of constant travel had been a shock to his system. He had lost condition and could only be described as light. However, his head went straight into his feed bin and he hasn’t left an oat since. The addition of extra protein and oil to his diet has helped and he is improving by the day.

Over the years I have been a massive proponent of the blinkers and I actively encouraged his last trainer to race him in the hood. However, it became obvious that blinkers, while sparking him up and keeping him interested, were not helping him to settle in his races. I don’t suppose it helped that when he had his first race wearing blinkers he absolutely bolted in. A result like that can have a tendency to skew your thinking but, in retrospect, he was ridden a little differently that day too and maybe that was the reason for the improved performance. Of course, that is easily said after the event. As my late father used to say - if past the post punting was music - you’d be a brass band. Gee, thanks Dad! So, for his southern debut it’s blinkers off and the ear covers on, in an attempt to help him settle.

As an information gathering exercise, and after much thought given his somewhat light condition, I decided to take him to the jump outs at Wingatui last week. Mainly to see how he went without any headgear and to give him a gallop in company. Pleasingly, he didn’t pull in the run but they were going 12 to the furlong which may well be his top speed anyway. The best news, however, was that he ran straight after previously having a tendency to hang like a cheap suit without any headgear. So, some small wins there – well maybe. An alternative view: he was a 2-race winner in a maiden jump out who did nothing wrong but struggled to keep up in better track conditions. As the owner/trainer of my latest champion, I didn’t waste a second thought on the latter proposal. On that note, can I confirm that I know nothing about a reported group of people performing rain dances on Saddle Hill. It wasn’t me - I know nothing.

Following the jump out, The Brother had a rest day and has spent the last couple of days trotting and cantering through the sand hills and being popped over a couple of logs. He is happy and loving it, but the question remains will it be enough to make him try harder and run faster? Only time will tell.

In the next episode I will tell you about why we decided not to call him Pack of Rollies and the very generous welcome I received from Wingatui legends Terry Kennedy and Shankar Muniandy. Not to mention, my prediction for Hallelujah Brother’s first up run – or do you know that already?