Trainer Stephen Marsh felt that the horse knew something was up and sparked up for the race, turning around a lethargic effort in a lower grade race at his previous start. It was fitting that Lisa Cropp back rode him, as she was on him in all of his big wins and hadn’t ridden him since 2009. It was a gem of a ride and she had him relaxed and travelling beautifully. At the 600 metres you could see he was keen and when he hit the front, he was never going to be beaten despite two challengers coming at him late.
It is not often that old warriors like him get to go out on their terms and the owners will have this memory for the rest of their lives. It is the perfect time to retire him and Stephen Marsh has a box and a paddock for him at Cambridge where he will live. He will stay active there and work on the track a few days a week and teach the babies how to be race horses.
He retires after a wonderful career winning the Group 2 Counties Cup; Group 3 Manawatu Cup; Group 3 Wellington Stakes and he had 63 starts in all for 9 wins; 5 seconds; 11 thirds; 5 fourths; 4 fifths and prizemoney of $373,425.
Go Chettak you good thing.
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