There’s been no fear of missing out so far for the FOMO Syndicate.
The group of harness racing enthusiasts, who are plain and simply there for a good time and to enjoy the thrill of having a horse at the races continued their grand start to horse ownership last night at Addington when Gupta’s Cullen made it two from two for the Jonny Cox stable after being purchased early in the season.
It follows on from their success with Weedon’s Express who did a similar thing when winning for the group before being on sold. A winner at Forbury last week, Gupta’s Cullen showed that a change of environment had worked the oracle when he came from dead last the 200 metre mark to run past some quality opposition last night – much to the delight of the entourage of supporters in the grand stand.
“They’re a great bunch of people to train for,” Cox said.
“Mitchell Robertson has done a great job setting it all up, there are some new owners in there this time around too who haven’t owned a horse before so they are really getting the best out of it.
“Hopefully we can keep it up for them.”
Handled last night by Cox’s partner, Kim Butt, Gupta’s Cullen got the shuffle up in the final half of the race but unwound stylishly to win – surprising her trainer in the process.
“I thought she would go a good race, but she really let down. At the top of the straight I thought she might be able to run into third or something but the closer they got to the post the more confident I got.”
There was no exact reason for the turnaround in form according to Cox although he did give tribute to caretaker trainer, Ben Laughton who looked after the Cox team while he and Butt were away on a holiday recently.
“Ben came around every day and worked her for me and did a great job because she was ready to go when he got back.
“We haven’t done a lot with her to be honest, she seems to thrive on a very little amount of serious work.”
Cox and Butt will be hoping to make it a double for the weekend tomorrow at Methven when they combine with the talented, but erratic Sunny Demon.
“He went to charge into a gap last night and just got too keen and galloped, he’s working good but it’s just a case of if he wants to be out there or not.
“If you catch him on the right day he’s pretty smart.”
Cox tasted another victory last night when he made his debut in the blue and silver stars of Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen guiding Thefixer to victory on debut.
He’s working there every morning at the moment, helping with the fast work side of the operation before heading off mid-morning to care for his own team.
“It’s good, they are great people to work for and it was nice to get the colours on and get a result for them.”
Cox is a chance to return to the sulky behind Thefixer in next week’s Sires’ Stakes heat.
Matt Markham