Trish Dunell
After the devastating loss of Dontbreakmyheart last weekend, Peter and Jessica Brosnan are hoping to get another of their talented jumpers back on track for major missions with a flat run on Wednesday.
The Matamata trainers have four starters at the Tauranga meeting, including That’s How It Goes in the Rating 65 Boys Get Paid Get Out Stakes 2100 with the mount going to stable apprentice Tui Miles.
That’s How It Goes will be using the rating event to fit him for future jumps assignments, possibly culminating in starts in the Pakuranga Hunt Cup (4800m) at Te Rapa on August 25 and the Great Northern Steeplechase (6400m) on the same track on September 9.
Raced by the Brosnans, the son of Istidaad has a win apiece on the flat, over hurdles and over steeplechase fences. He recorded his steeplechase win at Hastings in May and was then runner-up at Te Aroha before being pulled up in the Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase and tailing the field home at Te Aroha last start.
“He was a bit underdone at Te Aroha last time as we’d freshened him after Hastings,” Brosnan said. “This flat run will bring him on for the other ‘chases and I would be disappointed if he didn’t weigh in.”
The Brosnans are hoping to have a couple of starters in both the Pakuranga Hunt Cup and Great Northern Steeplechase as Old Countess is also being set for the double.
A winner over hurdles, Old Countess successfully made the transition to steeplechasing when scoring at Hastings on June 30, then two starts later she finished unplaced in the Wellington Steeplechase.
“She was going well at Trentham until she hit the deep stuff the last 400 metres,” Brosnan said. “It took the guts out of her and we’ve freshened her up. Hopefully she’ll be right to run at Wanganui then the Pakuranga Hunt Cup and, all going well, the Great Northern Steeples.”
The Brosnans’ other three runners on Wednesday are first-starter Jazdancer, one-race winner Bewitched and the maiden Pavlichenko.
“Jazdancer won a trial well at Waipa then the inside track at Te Rapa wasn’t her go in her trial there,” Brosnan said. “She’s green, but she seems to handle the wet and has got ability.
“As for Bewitched, she’s got the ability but doesn’t always show it and Pavlichenko ran on well at Matamata last week and I give her a chance. She’ll be jumping next year.”
When it comes to jumpers, the Brosnans believe they have lost potentially their best one, Dontbreakmyheart.
Their delight in decisively winning the first event at Rotorua, the Weowna Family Trust Hurdle, with Dontbreakmyheart, turned to shock when the big grey broke a leg just metres after the winning post and had to be euthanised.
Devastated by such a tragedy, the couple then watched stablemate Goodnight Irene clear maiden ranks four races later to give them their first training double on a day.
“It could have been a perfect day, but I just felt numb,” Peter Brosnan said. “We had high hopes for him (Dontbreakmyheart) and the way he won he could have been a superstar for us over fences.
“He was one of those horses that so many people loved. Linda (Hunt) and Andrew (Burton), who had raced him and sold him to us, were there in the stand watching the race with us. It was devastating for us all.
“They took him home and buried him on their farm.”
Dontbreakmyheart had won three flat races for Hunt and Burton and Saturday’s win was the first in the ownership of the Brosnans, who purchased him after he won a highweight on the Rotorua course last September.
The Brosnans have been overwhelmed by the kind messages and phone calls over the tragic loss. – NZ Racing Desk