After All That is living proof that patience pays off
THE Rodney Northam-trained After All That ran second in Sunday’s Wild Card Country Championships qualifier at Scone behind Pelerin, booking a spot in Saturday’s $400,000 final at Royal Randwick.
It’s been a long road to the track for the son of Time Thief and Octavia Belle, with injury limiting the five-year-old’s career to just 15 starts.
“I purchased him at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale with the view to sell him as a breeze up horse,” Northam told Horse Betting.
“At his last gallop he sustained a hairline fracture to his pelvis, so the sale was off the cards and we had to give him six months off.
“When we brought him back he was going well and he sustained another hairline fracture, so we had to give him 12 months off.
“It is quite a common injury with racehorses and they generally get over them – although it is unusual to do it twice.
“The most important thing with treating those injuries is ensuring they have enough time off to heal properly, which required a lot of patience and at times it was very frustrating.
“Thankfully since we have brought him back again he has been sound and now he is starting to repay us for all of our patience with him.”
Thus far, After All That has strung together four wins and two minor placings – his most recent victory being last December at Taree.
However, the bay gelding has raced well throughout the Championships series, running fourth on a Heavy 8 in the Scone qualifier on March 5 before his most recent outing on the weekend.
Northam said he is pleased with After All That’s recent runs against some quality company.
“I am really happy with the horse and his efforts,” he said.
“His run in the first Scone heat was really good even though he didn’t handle the heavy track that well – so I went into Sunday giving him a chance.
“I was very pleased with the run – he was left wide and working and he didn’t get a lot of cover during the race.
“He took off a bit early – earlier than what we would have liked and had to sustain a long run.
“But he ran on well and was strong to the line – he kept fighting.”
Northam said he is not concerned about the short back up in between runs and rates his charge a genuine each-way chance.
“He lives in a small paddock and gets over his runs quite well so the short turnaround isn’t really an issue.
“He will have a nice easy week this week heading into the final on Saturday.
“If he draws well I give him a chance, although I think the favourite will be very hard to beat.
“It has been a long process getting him to the track so it is very rewarding to have him going so well after everything we have been through.
“If he could run a place this week I would be extremely happy with him.”