David T
The quiet man of racing, Darryl Hodgson, reached the pinnacle of his career to date when winning the J&B Met with Past Master on Saturday and it was also a milestone for owner Hassen Adams and jockey Gerrit Schlechter.
Adams, who has an honours degree in Mathematics, visited Schlechter during the week and planned the race.
“I told Gerrit that it was mathematically impossible for the horse to be dropped out and still win,” he explained.
Schlechter rode the race to perfection.
“The first 200m of the Met is normally a mad scramble for position,” he said. “I was wary of chasing the horse as he would then think he was in a sprint. So when I found myself quite close to the front I made a split second decision, ‘Place him’ I said to myself. I found cover behind Tales Of Bravery and suddenly I was one off the lead and alongside Mother Russia. I was where I wanted to be and was there for free. Anton Marcus looked across at me and said ‘Wow, you’re in a nice position from draw 15!”
A game of cat and mouse between Marcus and Schlechter ensued.
In the straight they turned together and Schlechter left a gap, inviting Marcus to take it.
However, Marcus mindful of going too early, did not fall for the ruse.
“I wanted him to take the gap and go ahead,” said Schlechter. “That would have set it up for me perfectly with a horse to follow.”
With hindsight Marcus might have taken it, because 100m or so later he was caught in a pocket, with the tiring Bravura ahead and Past Master alongside.
To his credit Schlechter kept the door firmly closed and bided his time.
“When I asked him he responded like any of the best horses I’ve ever ridden, the Eyeofthetiger’s, Chief Warden’s, Rabiya’s etc.” said Schlechter.
“I saw Anton coming back on my outside, but I still had plenty in reserve.”
It was a very important win for Schlechter, “The first question people ask you as a jockey is ‘have you won the July?’, and the second is ‘have you won the Met’? I’ve now won both.”
The most excited man on the course was Hodgson’s long time assistant Dun Katz, who later paid tribute to Hodgson and Adams.
Past Master was bred by Hymie Maisel of Hyjo Stud. Maisel is ill at the moment and the win is sure to have given him a boost.
Vidrik Thurling, Chairman of Gold Circle in the Western Cape and son-in-law of Maisel, had persuaded Adams to buy Past Master at the sales.
Adams praised Hodgson’s horsemanship and indeed the win was a fine training feat, for there have not been many horses in history that have been nurtured back from suspensory ligament damage to win major races.
Past Master joined the Hodgson yard at the beginning of this season with a big reputation having won the Selangor Cup as a three-year-old, upsetting his highly regarded stablemate Noordhoek Flyer.
Some thought at the time that the win was a flash in the pan, as he had started at long odds, but one man who thought differently was Gerrit Schlechter, who had always thought Past Master was better than Noordhoek Flyer.
Past Master injured a suspensory ligament after the Selangor and was out for ten months, so Hodgson always had to be careful with him in training.
That is why he often used races to bring the horse to its peak, the Diadem over 1200m being one such example.
That race was intended to bring him on for the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate but instead he “flabbergasted” Hodgson by waltzing to an emphatic victory.
People started questioning his stamina capabilities after that and he then flopped in the Queen’s Plate.
Schlechter explained, “He sprawled at the junction and then for a couple of strides ran as if he had gone wrong. “
The jockey was left in two minds and Past Master never recovered his balance.
However the horse pulled up sound and has shown no sign of anything being wrong since.
Past Master worked with two-time winning battler Cool Conqueror on Tuesday morning on the Milnerton sand and pulled two lengths clear of him at the end of 800m.
Hodgson said at the time of the normally lazy horse, “For him that was a very good workout.”
Shortly after that another Met day horse Wikipedia pulled 10 lengths clear of his work companion in a highly impressive gallop.
Hodgson pointed out the irony after the Met, as Wikipedia finished unplaced in his race.
“People think it’s easy for trainers to make predictions, but that just shows how hard it is,” he said.
For Adams the J&B Met win was the conclusion of an incredible tale and he was visibly emotional, immediately dedicating the victory to his late father.
The J&B Met had another irony in that Pocket Power, who was ridden by Schlechter on his debut, bowed out in a Met won by Schlechter.
The legendary eight-year-old was unsuited to the slow pace and was unable to make an impression from midfield, but he was one of the fastest finishers and claimed the eighth place cheque.
Between the ninth and tenth race the Mike Bass yard and Pocket’s owners were asked to stand on the fashion stage by the racecourse and then Pocket Power cantered past them, with a garland of red flowers around his neck and Bernard Fayd’herbe aboard in the Marsh Shirtliff silks.
The tears flowed freely from the connections, for this was a tribute usually reserved for horses from countries like the UK and Australia, which have a horseracing culture.
Mark Bass probably summed it up best, “The saddest part for me was that he came out looking rearing to go for what he must have thought was another race.”
The yard’s feelings were reflective of the love trainers have for their horses and Hodgson later amplified this when saying about Past Master, “Even if he hadn’t won I wouldn’t have minded as he is just such a nice character.”
ends
Gill Simpkins
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