Tyler family chase Karaka Million fairytale
An impulse buy after experiencing the magic of Karaka Million night has given the Tyler family a chance of a fairytale result at Ellerslie on Saturday. Brothers Jason and Michael Tyler hit on the idea of buying a yearling at the Karaka sales that could give them a runner in a million-dollar race after they held Michael’s stag do at the meeting in 2018.
A few days later they secured a Peter Setchell-bred Power-Keepereel colt from the Book 3 session of the sale out of the draft of Seaton Park and sent him south to their dad Kelvin to train at Riverton. “They thought it would be nice to have a runner and took the plunge on a $10,000 budget,” Kelvin Tyler said. “They bought this wee fella and it’s a decision that has turned into gold. But I’ve been quick to warn them it won’t ever happen again.”
Named He’s Got Power, the colt made a slow start to his career, only beating one horse home in his first three starts before landing his maiden win at his fourth start. He went winless in his next six starts but last month he claimed a Rating 65 win at Riverton and has since added wins at Invercargill and Wingatui. “It was a really good field at Wingatui on Boxing Day and for a three-year-old to be winning a Rating 72 in such a tidy field, that’s what convinced us he was ready to come up,” said Tyler, who trains in partnership with his daughter Aimee.
“He’s thrived since too. He seems to have gone to a new level. He’s as good as he’s ever been and he’s travelled up better than expected too. A bit of rain would have helped us as would a better draw but the horse himself couldn’t be any better.”
A winner of four races, all on slow tracks, He’s Got Power is a $126 outsider in the TAB’s final field market for the Karaka Million 3YO Classic, but that hardly diminishes the thrill for the ownership group of Jason Tyler and his wife Laura, Michael Tyler and his wife Emma, and the brothers’ mum Avalon Todd.
He’s Got Power has been stabled with Pukekohe trainers Shaun and Emma Clotworthy since arriving in the north and has the services of jockey Lisa Allpress, whose first task will be securing an economical run from barrier 12. “He’s just a horse who has needed time. It’s really only the last six months he’s come to it. He was just average up till then,” Tyler said.
“We tested him in good company in the spring but they were just too fast for him. But we’ve put blinkers on and he’s really improved. If we could run in the first five, we’d be over the moon. “But just to have a runner in a million-dollar race is a win for us. It was really a no-brainer to come and give him his shot.”