Wyndham trainer Craig Ferguson is getting his good team in shape for the second half of the current harness racing season.
He has fourteen wins from forty-four starts. The team is led by the first-class grey trotter Smokin Bandar (Monkey bones), R71-Pacer Wag Star (Sweet Lou) and the ten-time winning gelding Da Vinci (Major in Art).
Smokin Bandar has started five times this season, winning twice at Omakau and Addington. He placed in the G3 Southern Lights and finished second to Oscar Bonavena twice at Addington. His last start was on 22.End February.
“He’s back and working fast. It’ll probably be another month before he gets out. He’s healthy and everything is good with him. We’ll take the same path as last year heading into Dominion,” Ferguson said.
The four-year-old Glaucus (Captaintreacherous) has won two of his four starts but has not raced since May last year.
“He had a quarter tear that needed time to heal, so we just took him out of action for a long time. He’s supposed to start speed training this week.”
The five-year-old mare Rollon Summer (Joy of the weather) last started at the end of June in Winton, finished sixth and is now back in action.
“We just gave her a few weeks off. She won’t train this weekend, but next weekend. She’ll just do this one training session and then go straight back to racing.”
Wag Star has made just three starts this season after a busy three-year-old season, most recently in a graded race at Rangiora, which he won. In total he has won five of his thirteen starts.
“He’s making good progress. He looks bigger and stronger than ever and I’m really pleased with him. He’ll probably be back training in about three weeks. We’ll probably nominate him for the New Zealand Cup. Realistically that would be a year too early but you never know how they’re going to come back after a break and from the way he looks he’s stronger than ever.”
Smart filly Louies Girl (Mr Forbes) won two of her three starts this season and most recently contested the G2 Southern Oaks where she finished third behind Flying Ellie and Aardie B Miki.
“She has come back well and we are quite happy with her. She will be back in training in two or three weeks. We will let her start in the Nevele R heats. She was at this level early in her career.”
Da Vinci has won four of his eight races this season and most recently took part in the Southern Country Cup final at Ascot Park in April, finishing third.
“He’ll go to training next week. He’ll be the first of our good ones to start. He’s got a chance in a good race with the right kind of run because he’s so fast. He’s also a good starter and if he could get on the track in a decent race he’d have a chance.”
Cormac Leo (Sweet Lou) has won once in four starts this season. He last competed in the Winton Cup in April and finished eleventh.
“We weren’t happy with him last time. He won his first heat but after that he was disappointing. After his last start he got angry so we put him back out in the field. He’s been jogging and swimming a bit for six weeks and is just starting to run fast this week.”
Rustenburg (Captaintreacherous) has only started once this season. His last race was in July in Addington.
“He will compete at Kurow on Sunday. He was disappointing at Addington. He injured his knee and the incident has taken its toll on him a bit. We’ve taken him home and freshened him up. He was due to train last weekend but that didn’t happen so we’ve given him some private training and that should get him ready for this week.”
Nutcracker (Joy of the weather) has started five times this season, taking two third places. Her last start was in the Southern Country Cup final in April, when she finished ninth.
“She’s just started jogging. She’s been really disappointing in her last few starts so we thought the best thing for her would be to give her a good stretch. We’ll see how she goes but it coincides with the breeding season so if she doesn’t get into shape she’ll be a broodmare.”
Outside of his racing team, Ferguson has a small number of unqualified novices and he has highlighted Saucy Delight (Bettor’s Delight) as a horse with potential. He is a three-year-old full brother to Chimichurri (9 wins) and Tabasco (2).
“Last time he did a few training sessions for me. You get the feeling he’s got a drive and is doing a really good job.”
Craig also has time for the two-year-old mare Turn N Burn (Major in ArtHer grandmother Kabet won six races.
“She’s going to be a beautiful horse. We’ve just put her aside and we want her to come back and do a bit of work. We don’t think she’ll be until she’s three years old at the earliest.”
from Bruce Stewartfor Harnesslink
