HORSHAM proved to be a Christmas surprise come early for Swan Hill trainers and jockeys on Sunday.
Helen Burns also took that old adage it takes a village to raise a child and turned it into it sometimes takes a committee to win a horse race.
Because she has been out of action for the past five weeks after having both her knees replaced at the same time in St John of God in Bendigo.
Leaving it up to staff, family and friends to run her stable and get her horses to the start line at the weekend.
Where, in the lucky last of the day, Burns sent out longshot Sanctimonious in the $27,000 Bull & Mouth After The Last Handicap over 1800m and was hoping – at best – to run a place (fourth would have made her happy she later said) and pay for the petrol money for the day.
But the veteran nine-year-old gelding – given no hope by punters at 20/1 – and jockey Neil Farley would put on the perfect demonstration of how you steal a race while no-one’s looking.
Three of the 10 starters in the final event were from Swan Hill – Burns joined by two Nathan Hobson starters – and once the field jumped and settled they were all in handy positions.
Hobson’s King and King was making the early running, but hardly asking questions of anyone as the horses bowled along at a steady slog.
The even-money favourite Early Warning was tucked away behind him and with 800m to go looked the horse most likely.
Which is when Farley pulled the trigger, sweeping Sanctimonious around the Hobson pair and the favourite and stole a 2.5 length break and decided to just keep going.
The favourite had plenty of warning the race rhythm had changed but rider Ryan Houston clearly expected the run to fizzle out in the short Horsham straight.
Hugging the rail around the final bend and still with daylight to the field, Farley had timed it all to perfection – as Early Warning realised too late it may have missed the boat.
Going hands and heels on the line, and giving some, but not much, ground to the favourite, Farley had caused one of the upsets of the day.
And Burns, who would have been delighted with a fourth after a fourth in the fourth with Farley on Little Sandy, might not get the grin off her face for a few days yet.
“We really didn’t think he had a great chance from his wide barrier on a track like Horsham,” Burns admitted post-race.
“But they were going so slowly and that’s when Neil decided to make his run early and he was gone before anyone knew what was going on,” she added.
“It was a really good ride and he judged the whole race better than everyone else – and the win was such a genuine team effort by everyone who has been helping me.”
Burns is still on crutches but managed the 460km round-trip to see the victory, driven by her brother Jim.
Who was part of the team, which also included Brodie Buying, Tai Jones, other family members and a couple of friends thrown in for good measure.
“All of them have shared the 4am starts, the feeding, grooming, trackwork, everything and never, well hardly never, complained,” Burns laughed as she was being chauffeured home.
“But I tell you what, I reckon even if the favourite had woken up a bit earlier my boy would still have won it, he loves a challenge and he would have responded if he needed to.”
Horsham was also a good day out for Harry Coffey – he won races one and two.
First up was the almost unbackable odds-on favourite Girls Girls Girls for the Andrew Bopbbin stable in the $27,000 bet365 Plate over 2100m.
Although it was the first win for the four-year-old mare, she had six seconds in her previous eight starts and is on her way to $100,000 in prizemoney.
Then Coffey wheeled out the second favourite – Simon Wyld’s Tremamore – in the $27,000 Carlton Draught Plate over 1400m and cantered to another two-plus length victory.
