IT WAS a day for local trainers and their horses at Swan Hill on Wednesday – Austy Coffey had a race named for his star galloper Sports Idol and Nathan Hobson won it with Chosen Venture, his potential star of the future.
Coffey had two starters in the race – son Harry on Surfy Pete and apprentice Sarah Field on Miss Cheviots – but they both finished well adrift.
But there can be no question Hobson must be getting more than just a little excited about his four-year-old gelding, which now has two wins and two placings from four starts.
Certainly excited enough to be considering a trip to Adelaide on Saturday week for a Class 2 race over 1000m to give the horse a taste of metropolitan racing.
Hobson also credits veteran rider Robbie Beattie with having had a big hand in the gelding’s success.
“Robbie’s a big part of the furniture at our stables these days, and that’s why he gets plenty of rides with us,” Hobson said.
“He’s here every Tuesday to do their gallops and has been a big part of educating this horse, so a big thanks to him.”
And while Beattie’s Wednesday ride was an excellent run, Hobson conceded you can never be too sure how a horse will go on the day, even though Chosen Venture had “always been big in the markets”.
“But we have always liked him and have always had a bit of faith in him to go on and deliver,” Hobson said.
“We’re still not quite sure where we will go with him next but we have that one pencilled in for him in Adelaide, so depending on what sort of weight he gets we might be looking at a trip there with him.
“And a trip away might furnish him more as a racehorse.”
Beattie agrees the horse is looking pretty good and says he reckons it knows him as well as he knows it.
It certainly worked for the pair on Wednesday from start to finish they did not have to go around another horse in the race, glued to the rail and slicing through to the front end of the field as they turned for home.
There were challenges but over the last 150m Chosen Venture stretched right out and saw them all off for a comfortable win by 1.25 lengths.
“He’s a nice horse, a good type with a lot of ability, but he’s still six months away,” Beattie said.
“There’s a heck of a lot more in this horse and he’s doing it right now on raw ability.
“He’s a horse looking for 1400m and all he needs to do is jump and settle and we’ll get him out there.”
Chosen Venture was a winner on debut at Swan Hill on March 19 with Beattie in the saddle.
The four-year-old was then turned out for 19 weeks before coming back with a second at home and a third at Bendigo before Wednesday’s blistering success.
All with Beattie at the controls.
“I’m coming up once a week at the moment to help Nathan out because it’s pretty hard to get riders, so he repays me,” Beattie said.
And Beattie’s not doing a bad job at his share of paying it back, either.
