Photo: Chanelle Lawson
By Joshua Smith, Harness News Desk
Enigmatic trotter Flying Scotsman brought his manners to Cambridge Raceway on Thursday night and proved to be too strong for his opposition in the 13 Alabar Stallions Supporting NZ Breeders Trot (2200m).
The Superfast Stuart gelding has proven to be a headache for trainer Ross Paynter over the last few months, breaking in all but one of his six starts in that time.
As a result, he was offered up to punters as an $18 winning hope by TAB bookmakers, and to the delight of his connections he belied those odds to run home a 2-1/2 length victor in the hands of local reinsman David Butcher.
“He’s a bit of a headscratcher – if he wants to do it, he can do it,” Paynter said.
“He has always been able to trot, he can run a bit of time and has got quite a high cruising speed, but he just mentally lets himself down.
“David knows he can trot, it is just about getting him around in one piece really, especially in that grade. He is probably just a bit better than those ones in that grade when he does do things right, which is not often.”
Paynter is now hoping Flying Scotsman has turned a corner with his manners, and he will continue to press on with the six-year-old.
“There is plenty of racing coming up at Cambridge, so he will keep whacking away there. It’s not so much what he is racing, he has just got to behave himself,” Paynter said.
Meanwhile, Paynter is offering a member of his prized trotting family in the latest standardbred.gavelhouse.com auction – Sagan.
The Monarchy mare is out of Paynter’s broodmare gem Cipollini - a seven-time winner herself and New Zealand Four-Year-Old Trotting Mare of the Year in 2000-01.
She is also the dam of Group One winner Lemond, Group Three winners Il Pirata and Anquetil, and Harness Jewels 2YO Ruby (1600m) winner Merckx.
While unraced, Sagan is already starting to follow in her dam’s footsteps as a broodmare.
Her first foal, Tourminator, won on debut earlier this year, and her yearling half-brother Pantani is already starting to excite Paynter.
Paynter believes Sagan has the makings of an outstanding broodmare and he said he is only selling her to reduce his broodmare numbers.
“I have got a couple of really nice yearling trotters and we have got Tourminator out of that mare, so we will breed on with her,” he said.
“She is a really nice mare. She has only had three foals and the first foal was Tourminator, who won first-up, and then she had a little injury, so I tipped her out.
“John Robinson bought the next one (Taken), but the little colt (Pantani) I have got in-work at the moment is as nice a trotter as I have had as a young horse.
“She is doing a really good job as a broodmare that mare, I am just reducing my numbers really.”
Sagan is in-foal to Breeders Crown Champion and multiple European Group One winner Creatine, who won’t be shuttling to Nevele R Stud in the 2022 breeding season.
Bidding is set to close from 7.13pm, Wednesday, August 17.
