Trainer Greg Hunter was beginning to wonder if his first harness racing winner from his new training base at Kennington was ever going to come but yesterday at the Northern Southland meeting Bettor's Delight mare Simple Pleasure provided the answer.
It was the five year old's first start in her second season of racing but a good performance at the Invercargill Workouts last Saturday indicated she would be tough to roll.
"Yeah I did think she'd be hard. She ran a half in 54.4 that day and I thought she would improve with the run. I didn't think she'd go 2-41 today all the same but Greg's horses are always pretty fit and she's tough so it was a good effort," said driver Andrew Suddaby.
The early pace was set by Red Electric before Manuka Valley and Clark Barron took up the role. Then Suddaby and Simple Pleasure took over which wasn't the pre-race intent.
"It wasn't really but it was just where we ended up. Clark had to do a bit to get there so I thought he may have been looking for a trail. We just put our eggs in one basket, had a go and got it. Once she got to the front I thought she'd be pretty hard to beat. I looked around at the half to ease up a bit and give her a bit of a breather but they were all dropping off so I thought I might as well press on. At the 800 metres I thought she had them in big trouble."
Simple Pleasure held on to beat a late charge from first starter Debnita Rose running the 2200 metres is a swift 2-41.6.
Simple Pleasure returning to the birdcage Photo by Bruce Stewart
Simple Pleasure is out of the five win Miles McCool mare Cool Ripple which Hunter also trained. Suddaby reined her to win four of those starts.
"She may not have the speed of her mother but she's definitely tougher so she's got a lot more wins in her yet. She's got a good attitude to try and a will to win."
Bruce Stewart
Southland Harness Racing