Retired. Derby winner Bravura
What a day Saturday was with Lady Luck not really shining down on us. The day kicked off with a smashing run by Gogotine which, on a heads up/heads down finish, just did not get the vote. It was downhill from there on in.
It was great to get the Gogotine back in form after his largely unsuccessful Durban season. Hopefully we can win a small feature with him along the way. I personally always felt that he is held by the handicapper but sometimes I can be wrong. However, I still feel he is going to be a tough horse to win with.
Our grey carrot-muncher, King of Pain, put in the type of effort we thought he would and he was also just touched off. Obviously the Met is his target and he is a horse without penalties. I am just praying for a smooth ride through to the Met. He is not yet fully wound up and there is still improvement to come. Good luck to my old mate, Dean Kannemeyer. On a personal level, I couldn’t be happier for him.
Then the Lanzerac Ready to Run came along and my worst fears came true. My biggest competitor did what he did best and beat us home. They two horses were clear of the rest of the field and I felt it was a good effort from both horses. I know the winner is a good horse – I have been watching him – and I made it perfectly clear to both his trainer and his owners what I thought of him before this race so it came as no surprise to me.
Not everything went Red Ray’s way but that is racing and we will live to fight another day. Good luck to Brett Crawford and Glen Hatt on their great day. On a sadder note, training flat horses, we obviously get plenty of young horses coming in every year and don’t get to hold on to the older ones as long as we would like to. Thankfully we have had our old mate, Bravura, around for an extremely long time and he has been a tough and game servant to us. He has not always been the easiest but has certainly been the most full of character.
After Saturday’s run, we have decided to call it a day with him as he really doesn’t appear to be enjoying racing anymore. It wasn’t that long ago he carried a massive weight to win a handicap and show the world how good he was.
He was a horse with lots of little niggles and then had one big problem after his thrilling win in the Derby. He really is the most smashing individual and was one of the most fun horses I have ever had the pleasure of training.
I shall miss him but he will be retired somewhere nice. Veronica, Derek and I are in discussions as to where he will be happiest and have the most fun. Boy, what a character and a big thank you to Veronica, Ingrid and Markus for the chance, fun and conundrum of training him. It is back to the usual Monday grind of lamenesses and declarations as well as having to go through our pile of sales horses we were lucky enough to purchase.
