Southern Icon
Trish Dunell
The successful partnership of Matamata trainer Alan Tait and Cambridge jockey Mark Hills is ready to strike again with Southern Icon at Hastings on Saturday.
Hills will be out to complete a hat trick of wins on Southern Icon when he rides the four-year-old in the Fastrackinsurance HB Autumn Stakes. The pair started the winning streak on a heavy10 track at Awapuni on April 2 then won again at Hastings over the same 1400 metre trip on a Good3 track a fortnight ago.
"We work in well together," said Tait of Hills. "He's an under-rated rider and he's done well for me. He's won six races for me in the last 12 months.
"I'm only a small trainer and to get a rider to stick with the team like him is important."
"I've always had a big opinion of Southern Icon," said Tait. "He's been a work in progress for so long and still is.
"I've had a lot of niggling things go wrong with him in the last two years, but we're getting there."
Southern Icon was second in his first trial as an autumn two-year-old at Te Awamutu and Mike Collinson, a long-time stable client, then bought into the son of Big Brown and races him with Tait's wife, Galene.
Collinson enjoyed a quick return on his investment when Southern Icon won on debut at Ruakaka a month after his trials placing, then returned to the same track to finish a close second.
Now with 16 starts under his belt for five wins, Southern Icon spearheads Tait's team and is giving the "battling" trainer a few highlights, though he still has a long way to go to match the former southerner's biggest thrill, Group One success with Southern Lord in the 2012 Levin Classic.
With the early scratchings of Goldminer and Bonniegirl, Southern Icon will face six opponents in his Hastings assignment.
"Win lose or draw he will go out for a spell after this race," said Tait. "He can have two to three weeks off then I'll get him ready for the Hawke's Bay Spring Carnival. There are some good races on the undercard that would suit him." – NZ Racing Desk.
Hills will be out to complete a hat trick of wins on Southern Icon when he rides the four-year-old in the Fastrackinsurance HB Autumn Stakes. The pair started the winning streak on a heavy10 track at Awapuni on April 2 then won again at Hastings over the same 1400 metre trip on a Good3 track a fortnight ago.
"We work in well together," said Tait of Hills. "He's an under-rated rider and he's done well for me. He's won six races for me in the last 12 months.
"I'm only a small trainer and to get a rider to stick with the team like him is important."
"I've always had a big opinion of Southern Icon," said Tait. "He's been a work in progress for so long and still is.
"I've had a lot of niggling things go wrong with him in the last two years, but we're getting there."
Southern Icon was second in his first trial as an autumn two-year-old at Te Awamutu and Mike Collinson, a long-time stable client, then bought into the son of Big Brown and races him with Tait's wife, Galene.
Collinson enjoyed a quick return on his investment when Southern Icon won on debut at Ruakaka a month after his trials placing, then returned to the same track to finish a close second.
Now with 16 starts under his belt for five wins, Southern Icon spearheads Tait's team and is giving the "battling" trainer a few highlights, though he still has a long way to go to match the former southerner's biggest thrill, Group One success with Southern Lord in the 2012 Levin Classic.
With the early scratchings of Goldminer and Bonniegirl, Southern Icon will face six opponents in his Hastings assignment.
"Win lose or draw he will go out for a spell after this race," said Tait. "He can have two to three weeks off then I'll get him ready for the Hawke's Bay Spring Carnival. There are some good races on the undercard that would suit him." – NZ Racing Desk.
