TURF
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SUBTRACT cost Sally Torrens $6000.
Initially she thought the former Victorian mare, a daughter of Samer, would be a bit of fun and help rid an itch to train gallopers she had harboured for a long while.
A well-known harness racing trainer and driver, Subtract was to be a bit of fun.
Then the four-year-old daughter up and wins on debut for Torrens at
Tamworth – a fairytale start to Torrens’ thoroughbred training career.
Then she backed the mare up at Mudgee and, despite some bad luck, she ran on impressively from back in the field for second.
And then last Saturday, at Coonabarabran, she had the hide to win, despite copping a couple of checks in running.
From three starts, she has won about $13,000, more than doubling Torrens’ purchase price.
“Everything’s a bonus now,” Torrens said.
“It’s the thrill of a lifetime for us.
“I never thought this would happen.
“ I just thought we’d get a horse that would finish amongst them.”
It was all about the chance to “give it a go” and have a lash at training a different kind of equine animal.
Now it’s become a successful foray into a a field where Subtract could just continue to improve.
“We might have fluked something special,” Torrens said.
“She pulled up well too.
Kody (Nestor) said she was still green and was quite impressed with her. She had raced inside horses and copped a few checks but still found the line well.
“It’s a bit scary really when you think about it,” she said of having won twice and finished second in three starts.
Torrens has trained pacers for two decades and knows her way around them.
Subtract, she said, was “an honest little thing”.
The mare might run at Gunnedah at her next start.
“They have a meeting on March 8,” Torrens said.
“It would be great to race at home.
“She’d be my first ever starter at Gunnedah (Riverside) but you wouldn’t believe it, they have a trot meeting at Narrabri the same day.
“They only have two a year out there (Narrabri) and it’s the same day.
“It’s a day meeting too.”
Luckily the March 8 Narrabri meeting is a lead-in to their big Carnival Of Cups the following week.
While preparing for that weekend, Torrens is also off to Bathurst today with two-year-olds Rosie O’Rourke and Tirunesh.
They are running in heats of the Davidson Cameron & Co 2013 Gold Crown Yearling Sale Graduates 2YO Fillies (1730m).
Tirunesh is in the first heat and Rosie O’Rourke, who won on debut at Tamworth, is in the second.
“She’s trained on well,” Torrens said of Rosie O’Rourke.
“She’ll hopefully qualify for the final the following Wednesday night too.”
She bought Rosie O’Rourke for $11,000 and thinks she might also develop into a handy pacer.
Nominations for next Tuesday’s Aberdeen Cup meeting at Muswellbrook’s Skellatar Park close at 11am today, not yesterday as previously reported. There was a printing error in the AJC calendar.
The $15,000 Aberdeen Cup (1280m) is the feature race.