The Wyndham trained Ardtoo upset some more fancied runners in the Fairbairn Plumbing Limited Nuggets Final at Winton on Sunday.
He was the rank outsider in the small field at $62.60 to win on the tote.
Driver Craig Ferguson got the Auckland Reactor gelding through from the second line draw but was left parked for the first 1400 metres of the races. When Born To Run came around Ardtoo finally got cover. At the top of the straight he came out four wide and ran home resolutely down the middle of the track to win easily by two and a half lengths from favourite Shebang. His time of 2-59.1 was good on the slushy Central Southland Raceway.
The three year old is owned by his trainer Russell Ferguson and his wife Susan. Sunday's win was his second in a row, having had a win earlier in the month at Invercargill.
"I knew it was a strong field but I was half confident because he's got this sheer amount of ability. People didn't share my confidence." Russell said he was surprised at how much the gelding paid.
As part of the horse's training regime Ferguson has been taking him into Invercargill for some fast work.
"I brought him to Invercargill on Thursday and he fast worked against one of Steve Lock's galloping pacemakers. He worked super."
Ferguson says he's now considering taking the horse for a road trip to Addington.
"Yes, we'll look at that because he'll need to be ready for what we're targeting. We'll look at some age group racing so we can watch our rating points. We don't want to be racing older seasoned horses. Craig has backed me on that and has said to aim him at some decent races."
In the meantime Ardtoo has been turned out for a bit of a mid season break.
"He's in the paddock for ten days to a fortnight. Then we'll come back for the super final of the Nuggets. We'll support that Series all the way through because its a good concept. That'll lead us to the Supremacy Stakes."
Ardtoo is named after Wyndham Rural Delivery (RD2).
"We own the RD run at Wyndham which Susan does so that's how he got his name."
Ferguson says he had some interest in the horse as a two year old but he declined it, and says he's not surprised he hasn't been approached this season.
"It doesn't surprise me. I turned them all down last season and told them I was keen to keep him. We'll carry on racing him at the moment because we're having a bit of fun."
Bruce Stewart
Southland Harness Racing