The Lisa Cole training machine rolled relentlessly on at Hatrick last Friday when the Palmerston North based conditioner qualified five finalists for the $25,000 The Rock 95.2FM NZ Futurity final at Group 1 level.
Pic – Vikings, who clocked the quickest NZ Futurity heat time (pic Dave Robbie)
The Lisa Cole training machine rolled relentlessly on at Hatrick last Friday when the Palmerston North based conditioner qualified five finalists for the $25,000 The Rock 95.2FM NZ Futurity final at Group 1 level. She produced the winner of four of the five 520m heats, plus she also mentored eight of the twelve race winners during the evening.
The heats were cut throat, bruising affairs which saw a number of the strongly supported pre-series favoured runners failing to make it through for this Friday’s final.
First up it was Spring Allegro for Cole who led his rivals from trap rise through to the finish returning 30.14s. He held a 1.5 length margin over the Dave and Jean Fahey trained Bomb’s Falling who gamely chased after the pacemaker throughout. He will be the first reserve for the final.
Similar on-the-pace tactics were adopted by his kennelmate in the second heat which saw the $23.50 outsider See Aye Eye rock the punters when he landed his 30.30s heat win. Cawbourne Mezza was bold when she also tracked the pacesetter all the way, resulting in her 1.75 heat second for Matt Roberts. That placing will see her occupying the second possie on the reserves bench.
Bigtime Bell isn’t known for her early pace, how the strong finishing Cole prepared chaser pinged away from the two trap and she was never going to be headed once in the race lead as seen during her freewheeling heat in win a tidy 29.97s. It was a bold effort that Opawa Brad produced to book his final field position for the Fahey’s when he was sighted doing his best work during the run home to wind up three lengths further behind.
Heat four again saw a similar result when on this occasion it was Spare Some Time who controlled the pace throughout to land his 30.03s heat win for Cole. Breaking up the two kennel heat domination in this heat was the Craig Roberts trained Allen Hadrian who pressed home stoutly from a midfield position to claim his final position possie two lengths behind.
It was the Fahey’s who nailed the final heat when their exciting youngster Vikings seized the early race lead from where he was never headed when delivering the fastest of the heat times, clocking a tidy 29.90s. Cole produced her fifth finalist with Bigtime Jason tracking the pacemaker throughout, to complete his task 4.5 lengths behind him.
The Rock 95.2FM NZ Futurity finalists include from left: Bigtime Bell, Spare Some Time, Opawa Brad
By Peter Fenemor
