A powerful sprint finish has taken progressive South Island galloper The Grey Goose (NZ) (Reliable Man) to an emphatic victory in the ODT Southern Mile Final (1600m) at Wingatui.
The $200,000 final was the culmination of a series of qualifying events in the South over the past few months and drew a highly competitive field for the rating82 contest.
The Jo-Ann Gordon-prepared daughter of Reliable Man had won her way into the field courtesy of a victory in a qualifying race at her home track at Invercargill back in mid-February while she had also finished third and fifth respectively in two other qualifiers where she displayed good finishing speed in all three efforts.
With Kylie Williams replacing regular pilot Rohan Mudhoo, The Grey Ghost made her customary steady beginning but soon drifted to a clear last as pacemakers Miss Pearl and Candidate set up a merry chase for the rest of the fourteen-horse field.
Williams didn’t panic with the whole pack in front of her as she began to loop the field on The Grey Goose while still only having a handful of runners behind them rounding the home bend.
With several large bounds The Grey Goose joined issue quickly and by the 100m the contest was over as she ran out a stylish one length winner from Miss Pearl who stuck on bravely to shade the fast-finishing Willis, who was baulked when mounting a likely charge near the 150m.
Williams was impressed by the effort of the mare and thankful for the advice she received from Mudhoo before the race.
“I actually had a ride originally but that pulled up sore, so I was going to sit on the sideline, however, Rohan wasn’t able to take the mount so I managed to get the call-up from Jo-Ann,” Williams said.
“He messaged me in the morning and we had a good chat about her. He basically said to ride her back, don’t try and be pretty as she doesn’t like going between horses, and just be patient until it’s time to go.
“We did get a long way off them at one stage, but I could feel I had plenty of horse under me and when I asked her she kept coming.
“They went pretty hard up front and that suited her as I could ask her to roll into it just when I wanted.
“She was a little wayward in the straight, but I didn’t really pull the stick as I probably would have knocked a couple over.”
The Grey Goose has now won four of her 12 starts and more than $179,000 in prizemoney.
