Gore harness racing trainer Wayne 'Syd' Breen is having the time of his life.
From thirty four runners at the races he's more than doubled his career training tally with six wins on the board this season, and the promise of more to come.
Adding to the tally yesterday was quality gelding Santanna's Rocket which beat a maiden field that had plenty of depth. The win well and truly made up for his disappointing run at the Northern Southland meeting last Thursday.
"Last week we didn't get much of a trip. We got pushed out at the 500 and it knocked his confidence a bit but everything worked out well today," said driver Brent Barclay.
Breen said despite the tough run the gelding didn't take any harm.
"He just came home and ate up and his work the other day was pretty smart so I was quite happy with him," he said.
In yesterday's race, the early speed was steady and Barclay had the Santanna Blue Chip gelding off the running line and parked for a short distance. Help arrived when Better Than Most followed up Rakarover forward and was left to sit in the open when Rakarover was taken to the lead. With 500 metres to run trailing horse Lilac Flash galloped and disrupted most of the field. Up front Rakarover made the most of the carnage behind, and high tailed it for home with Santanna's Rocket in hot pursuit. Under a hard drive Barclay got the three year old up to win by a length and a half from Rakarover. Southbound Train ran home from well back for third with an eye catching run. Better Than Most (4th) and Aidan Junior (5th) have 'next start' written all over them.
Santanna's Rocket beating Rakarover on the inside – Photo Bruce Stewart
"He missed the trouble and the one that could have beaten us was on the inside (Aidan's Junior) and he got into trouble. My horse doesn't stop. You just have to keep at him because he's such a lazy horse. It was good for the owners because they didn't get much luck last week. The C1 grade may be hard for him but the quicker they go the better he goes," said Barclay.
Breen who was part of the group that bred the gelding says as a young horse there were problems in gaiting him.
"He took a while to gait up. He didn't pace as a yearling. I said to Ross (Ross Cleland, part-owner) just chuck him out. I guarantee he'll pace when he comes back in. When he came back in we put the hopples on him and he paced straight away."
Santanna's Rocket is owned by Cleland along with Paul Matheson and Barry Harvey who bred the horse with Megan McLellan.
Winning connections – Photo Bruce Stewart.
"Harves came down last week. He's got motels in Darfield. We've been mates for years."
Santanna's Rocket is the fourth generation that Ross Cleland and Paul Matheson have bred from their original mare Trendy Miss (Sapling- Sports Edition).
The dam of Santanna's Rocket, Trendy's Rocket (Christian Cullen- Trendy's Cracker) won one race and as a broodmare has left Trendy's Bad Girl (Badland's Hanover) and Santanna's Rocket.
"I'm just scratching my head with her (Trendy's Bad Girl). She's had eleven placings from twenty seven starts. We can't pull a trick. She's gone 1-55.6 and 1-57.8 and just gets second or third."
Trendy's Rocket has an unnamed Betterthancheddar colt which is two and according to Cleland he will come back into work when Trendy's Bad Girl has a spell, a yearling filly by Badland's Hanover and a filly foal by Betterthancheddar.
Breen says there's been interest from buyers in Santanna's Rocket.
"He's paid up for the Northern Southland Futurity so that's the aim."
Bruce Stewart