Sheree Tomlinson’s race to Cup Week, and the Dominion Handicap, holds a little more pressure than most.
The talented young horsewoman requires three more wins to reach 15 career wins which makes her eligible to drive in black type races. And when the promise of the drive on Amaretto Sun is the carrot dangling at the end of the piece of string, you can see why she’s so keen to get there.
The pair combined last night at Addington to produce a stunning effort in the Ordeal Trotting Cup – beating some likely big race contenders with consummate ease in the process.
And Tomlinson, who had the best view in the house sitting behind the imposing trotter poured a little salt into the wounds of those behind them after the race.
“He did it so easy, I couldn’t believe how well he was travelling the whole way,” she said.
“He’s pretty exciting to sit behind. He gives you such a wonderful feel. When I asked him for a little of effort he just grabbed the bit and hooked into it.”
After an impressive effort last week when fourth behind Sunny Ruby after making a mistake at the start, Amaretto Sun was slightly let go by punters and Tomlinson made them pay by sending the gelding forward to find the front early and never looking back.
Sunny Ruby was forced to race parked for the majority of the last lap, which is well against her preferred racing style, and when Tomlinson clicked her charge up at the 600 metre mark the result was instant.
“I could see Sunny Ruby was parked and I thought our best chance was to make her work a bit harder so I ran a bit down the back and then really poured it on round the bend.
“He just did it in his stride though, I’m pretty lucky to get to sit behind a good horse like him – especially this early in my career.”
In winning last night Amaretto Sun is now guaranteed a start in the Dominion Handicap and will be officially ranked second in the rankings when the next round are released next week.
The D G Jones Memorial Banks Peninsula Trotting Cup is the first black type target for Amaretto Sun in the lead up to the Dominion Handicap which gives Tomlinson a month to get her required three wins.
“Hopefully I can get there, that’s three more to go now but as long as I’m there by Cup Week I’ll be happy.”
With four drives tomorrow at Oamaru, Tomlinson has a good chance to go one or two steps closer to that goal.
Amaretto Sun is trained by her grandfather, Ken Ford who continued his grand 12 months in feature trotting races with another victory and with Zachary Binx close to resuming and Marcoola still waiting in the wings, along with Amaretto Sun, there’s a whole lot more to get excited about too.
Matt Markham