Long standing owner Brian Turner, a self professed “old fashioned owner” landed an old fashioned gamble at Doncaster on Wednesday night.
The retired Lincolnshire farmer whose former runners include Long Spell, Squire Cass and Olivers Wish had a significant punt on his home bred Apache Kid (Head Bound-Story Time, Mar 15) in the heats of a maiden competition over the track’s 483m.
The British bred runner, who has only raced on six occasions since making his Swindon debut last August, was backed from 7-4 to 5-4f and romped up by nine lengths in 29.13, just six spots off the track record held by Yorkshire since 2005.
Surprisingly, for a dog with such little racing on his card, Apache Kid has never been injured.
Turner said: “Not at all, we just like to look after our dogs. He is a big dog and we wanted to give him some time. He was whelped down and reared by Ben McBride who has always fancied him as being a very fast dog. Ben is a very good judge and an excellent trainer and after we trialled the dog, we were very confident that he would win.
“We bred him ourselves out of Story Time. You may remember that she broke her hock at Romford and although we had one litter out of her, she is now struggling and we wouldn’t breed with her again.”
King Kid will not be aimed at this year’s Derby but will be eligible for the Produce Stakes at home track Swindon.
Turner said: “I would like to go on record with praise for Doncaster. It started with there being no admission prices because the meeting was being broadcast. I can think of several wealthier tracks that I go to that have televised meetings and still charge you to go in.
“The track itself is probably the best, but toughest four bends in the country. No wonder Charlie Lister loves running there. I also would like to thank the bookies. We had a few bob on-course and off-course and the track layers paid up with a smile.”
The other two heats of the Maiden Trophy went to Elaine Parker’s Slaneyside Bingo (Melodys Royal-Slaneyside Mona, Feb 15) in 29.56 and a long overdue win for Charlie Lister’s Dorotas Vic (Ballymac Vic-Droopys Danneel, May 15) in 29.19.
