Smith’s bargain buy to contest $400k Country Championships final
A HORSE purchased as an un-raced three-year-old for just $1,100 will head to the Country Championships Final as a genuine chance of taking home a slice of the $400,000 prize.
Distinctive Look, trained at Mudgee by David Smith, was an emphatic winner of the Central Districts qualifier at Wellington on Sunday, storming home down the centre of the track to score over Galaxy Warrior and Jar Of Hearts.
The victory booked the bay gelding a spot in the lucrative decider, set to be run and won at Royal Randwick on April 1.
Smith, who only has three to four horses in work at a time, said it was an enormous thrill to pull off the victory which has been on the radar for more than 12 months.
“We are completely rapt with this horse,” Smith told Horse Betting.
“He had to carry 59 kilograms from the wide barrier – but he was given the weight for a reason – he was the class horse in the race and he showed it.
“He is in tremendous form – but he is very much an underrated horse and he seems to fly under the radar.
“He has always shown ability so this race has been planned for a long time.
“We actually thought we’d be in it this time last year, but unfortunately things didn’t go according to plan.
“This time he had the right preparation and everything fell into place.
“We tipped him out for a spell in October which was very hard to do because he was in winning form and had picked up two wins in town.
“It was a big call, but after I spoke to the other owners I told them if they wanted to have a serious crack at this race he would have to go into the paddock in order to set a path for him.
“It’s unbelievable that its all paid off.”
Thirty-two-year-old Smith, who is only in his fourth season as a trainer, said his charge will be a big threat in the feature final.
“He is going to be thereabouts in the final and he will definitely make his presence felt.
“There are going to be some good horses there and he is probably better over the mile, but even over 1400m he is still a quality horse.
“He is always getting the job done at good odds and even heading into the final of the Championships he is a $15 chance – I am surprised he isn’t single digits.”
Sunday’s $80,000-to-the-winner qualifier was a massive thrill for Smith and the horse’s other owners, with the son of Lookin at Lucky and Beautiful Gem repaying their faith in buying the troubled gelding.
“We picked this horse up for $1,100 so his first win pretty much paid for his career.
“We purchased him off Gooree Stud as he had a fair bit of trouble when he was a younger horse – they couldn’t get him to the track as there were just problems after problems with him.
“He had stifle operations, throat operations – he has definitely been a difficult horse.
“I think Gooree just lost a lot of patience with him. When we picked him up he was a late three-year-old and he hadn’t even been to the trials.
“When we went down to the back paddock to have a look at him we saw straight away that he was a beautiful horse – he was big, strong and muscly and you could tell that if you ever got him to the track he was going to win races.
“We picked him up quite cheap, but it was still a big gamble because we were told that we wouldn’t get him to the track – he was that much of a problem.
“We took it one day at a time with him and he really seems to be showing us what he is capable of now.
“Even this preparation he has matured much more mentally in the head – you can just tell after tipping him out he is now all all-round racehorse.”
Smith says a win in the grand final would be life changing for him and his partner, Natasha Binns, as they strive to set themselves up within the industry.
“The win on the weekend for us was like winning a group 2 and heading into the final is pretty much like the country group 1 race of the year – if we can pull that off that would be huge.
“My partner and I are looking at setting ourselves up and purchasing a block of land, so the money would be re-invested back into the industry.
“It’s a lifestyle – its not a job – it takes up all your weekends and you don’t get holidays so if we can knock off the final that would definitely change our lives forever.”