NOEL Watson loved watching his five-year-old gelding Redjina win at Ararat on Sunday – but not as much as a buck’s party that had also been going full throttle at the track.
One of the pre-nuptial celebrants, who knows Watson, asked him how his horse would go.
Not wanting to talk himself and his horse up too much, he assured his mate Redjina was a strong each-way chance.
And it quickly became obvious the groom-to-be and his gang had, in Watson’s words, “unloaded on him” because straight after his horse crossed the line – and $6.50 for the win was flashed up – he was mobbed by the partygoers.
No question their reaction indicated they had just more than covered their costs for the day (and there were still three races to go).
Not much of a punter himself – “if the horse wins, so do I” – Watson was having his own good time, driving home, just him, the float he was towing; and in there, the horse that had just won.
For the second time in four starts, thanks very much.
Which is the potential Watson saw in the horse when he purchased him 15 months ago, though even he admits the stars finally seemed to align for Redjina on Sunday.
“We had real problems with him initially, when we discovered he had a real problem with one of his hooves,” Watson said.
“That required medical intervention, and about five months out while we waited for the hoof to regrow. Then we had to get him fit and healthy again and raring to go,” he said.
“Christine Puls was booked for the ride today; but then she got rides at today’s Bendigo meeting; so I had to find myself another jockey in a hurry.
“I was delighted to get Jarrod Fry on board but after the first two races I was beginning to think I had got things wrong there,” he added.
“Jarrod won both, and then rode the odds-on favourite to fourth in the third and I thought ‘Well, that’s it, he’s used up all his luck and now he’s getting on my horse’.”
But he needn’t have worried, Fry turned in possibly his best ride of the day, nursing the super casual Redjina through most of the 1600m in the $25,000 W. L. ‘Bill’ Biggin Handicap before lighting him up as they started into the back bend.
At which point, Fry told Watson post-race, by the time they reached the corner into the straight he was “pretty sure I had them all covered”.
And he did, having not just outrun the rest of the field, but also outfoxed Redjina and his appalling behaviour in the gates – behaviour that had earned Watson an admonishment and a warning from stewards in a previous run.
“He’s such a casual, laidback horse. I reckon if he was any more laidback, he’d fall over,” Watson said.
“The stewards had a word with me after he strolled out of the gates and was eight lengths behind in a trice, and even though he steamed home I knew we had to fix that habit before it got out of hand,” he said.
“So we took him down to the track and gave him a good session in the barrier – then we gave Jarrod a rundown of what we needed and I am pretty sure today’s result proves we got that right.
“The trouble is one of the things that really appealed to me when I bought Redjina was his calmness – he’s a real gentleman of a horse and so relaxed, which means the jockeys have to make sure he’s awake and on the ball.”
As the field swept around that last bend, Fry hunted Redjina to the outside and despite all the battles going on at the front, no one noticed Mr Casual building up a serious head of steam, looming up on the outside and then blowing right by.
“The only worry was Jarrod might not be able to get him to wake up enough to get on with the race; but he had been forewarned and knew what he was doing.”
Watson is now setting his sights on another start for his winner at his home track in Swan Hill but is waiting to see whether this latest win pushes Redjina into BM64 class – and more weight.
Which would mean finding a claiming apprentice; which in Swan Hill means he would also set his sights on Shanae O’Meara.
“Jarrod rode a fantastic race, he got him out of the gates along with the other horses, not a mile behind; then got him good cover in the middle of the field before making his run,” he said.
“But you don’t want to see your horse handicapped out of their next races with weight penalties; so I guess we will wait and see.”
