Trainers Sophie Hargreaves and Naomi Murfitt will be on a fact-finding mission when they head to Phar Lap Raceway with Brancaster Bomber on Wednesday.
The son of Showcasing has recorded both of his wins at Ashburton and his Riccarton conditioners are hoping Timaru can also prove to his liking.
“He just loves Ashburton, he never goes a bad race there. He has had two wins and two very close seconds where he just got pipped at the line,” Murfitt said.
“He doesn’t seem to like Riccarton, as he showed us on Saturday (when finishing 10th over 1400m). Timaru is a bit of an unknown, he has been there once over 1600m in winter last year, which he didn’t really like, so we thought we might go down and give it a go.”
Brancaster Bomber was runner-up at Ashburton earlier this month on a Soft5 track and Murfitt believes Phar Lap Raceway, which was rated a Good4 on Tuesday morning, will also be to his liking.
“He is quite tricky, he has an action of a wet tracker, but doesn’t like the wet tracks. That is deceiving, he likes to keep us guessing,” Murfitt said.
“He doesn’t like them rock hard either, so I think now is his time with these autumn tracks.”
Murfitt said he has pulled up well following his weekend run and is bouncing out of his skin ahead of his mid-week assignment.
“He seems bright. He went to the track today and did a slow round and the rider came in puffing, he was trying to go – that is always a good sign for him,” she said.
“If he was quiet and not asking to go then I would be worried. He is a pretty cruisy guy now. I haven’t backed him up before, so it is a bit of an unknown for us, but he is fit and there is a race there so we thought we would give it a go.”
Bred and raced by Murfitt, along with her husband Phil and father-in-law Corin, Brancaster Bomber has been a passion project, but one that hasn’t always proven easy.
“My husband’s grandfather was Mick Murfitt and we inherited the mare Naughty But Nice (dam of Brancaster Bomber) from Mick,” Murfitt said.
“My husband was keen to keep the breeding going. We bred a few stayers out of her, but we wanted something with a bit of speed, so we went to Showcasing. We always expected Brancaster Bomber to be more of a stayer, but he seems to have thrown a lot more to the Showcasing side and likes to run fast.
“We bred him ourselves and have done everything ourselves with him. It has been quite the journey, he hasn’t been the easiest. He was an absolute nightmare foal and he just about put us off from ever breeding again. He was a bit of a rogue, but he is very chilled these days and just knows his job and wants to get on with it. It is very rewarding from that point-of-view.”
Horses have always been a key pillar in Murfitt’s life, but she said it wasn’t until meeting her husband that she got involved with racing, and it was his encouragement that led her to take out her trainer’s license and enter a partnership with good friend Sophie Hargreaves.
“I have always loved horses and been involved with horses,” she said. “I married my husband Phil and that is how I was exposed to racing - Phil’s father, Corin Murfitt, was a race vet.
“We used to breed them and then send them off to train, and Phil used to say, ‘why don’t you give it a go?’.
“I got into it and absolutely love it. I love the training side of it and keeping them happy.
“I went into partnership with Sophie Hargreaves, she was a big driver towards getting me to do it.
“When I moved to Christchurch, she was one of the first people I met. I went and track rode for her and loved it. She always used to say that I was doing so much with the horses, why didn’t I just train?
“She has got so much knowledge from growing up in the thoroughbred industry. She has been fantastic and we work really well together."