APACHE Lad might be 10 years of age but he races like a juvenile his owner/trainer reckons.
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The 10-year-old son of Pure Theatre contested Monday's $22,000 Corey's Catering Benchmark 58 Handicap and at his 89th start won his eighth race.
He beat Misterzee by three lengths with Craig Martin's Royal Villa another two-and-a-quarter lengths away third.
Colin Dixon prepares Apache Lad at Tamworth and the local trainer believes there are plenty more wins in store for his marvellous 10-year-old, whose last win came in October last year.
"He's been knocking on the door lately," Dixon said, with the gelding placing in three of his previous four starts.
"He might be 10 but he acts like a two-year-old. He's a lovely old horse, doesn't know he's 10.
"There are plenty more wins in him too, got his foot on the till."
"Qin (Yong) rode him well too."
When asked about the Heavy track Dixon jokingly replied: "He goes better on the Heavy than I do."
There was no joke half an hour later when the rest of the meeting was abandoned due to the state of the track.
Some of the jockeys, concerned about the track, walked it and found "giant slide marks and big holes" Grant Buckley said.
"Five or six of us had a look," he said.
They took their concerns to the stewards who found their fears were real and called off the rest of the seven-race TAB program.
"Sure we wanted to race, we wanted to go round," Buckley said.
"We feel sorry for the club."
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Tamworth Jockey Club chairman Greg Birtles was "disappointed" with the abandonment.
"We don't race again until the Melbourne Cup day meeting on the B Grass, the inside track," Birtles said.
"The A Grass was being closed down for six weeks after today anyway for its renovation."
Plucky Cuvee earlier broke his maiden status when he strode to a two length victory over the Kris Lees-trained Are Zhu Ready in the $22,000 Dutton Electrical Maiden Handicap (1200m).
Luke Morgan's Ourtheo was six lengths away third on the Heavy 8 surface.
Buckley, who rode four winners at Sunday's Coonamble Cup meeting, continued his hot form.
"He jumped fair for him,"Buckley said of a gelding who had debuted at Moree with a close up second last month.
"I was able to trail Digger (Darryl McLellan on Are Zhu Ready) and take him into the race."
Stephanie Alexander, stable foreman for Plucky Cuvee's trainer Brett Cavanough, said the three-year-old gelding, a son of Pluck, travelled well after "not being far off them" at his first two starts.
One of his owners, Barry "Brush" Swain, was delighted.
The former Tamworth landscaper and jokester believes there are more wins in store for their gelding.
"We only paid $10,000 for him," Swain said.
"He's got a few more wins in him on that. I think he'll get 1600m later on."
