Not only was it Thomas’ first training success with only his second horse at the races, it was also Thomas’ first harness racing event in 11 years!
“It was brilliant. Very happy and very proud of the horse,” said Thomas.
Zeus managed to put three back on the outside early on, before Thomas opted to move to the parked position from the 1000 meters.
From there, Thomas took the race to pacer Fox Terror and driver Blair Orange, winning a neck-and-neck battle down the straight to win by a margin at the line, with closing sections of 57.3 and 28.6.
“I thought I was going to come second, it was a pleasant surprise.
“I didn’t want to have any bad luck today. We were considering giving him a little break after today. He enjoyed being out there rolling.”
That was the three year old Down on the coast gelding’s first win in only his second start.
“He’ll have a few more starts depending on how he gets through the next few days before he starts the break.”
ZEUS REPEAT
Thomas had been working with horses again for about a year before returning recently. Zeus was accidentally picked up by Thomas when he was buying racing equipment.
“We’ve had him for a year now. He was just a big, green kind of horse.”
“John Vincent had some equipment for sale on marketplace. He asked us if we had a horse, which we didn’t have at the time, so he said he knew one. It was at Benny Hill’s, who had two for a syndicate and he only wanted one. So two days later we had him.
“He thought it needed some time. So we were more than happy to just play with them.”
Thomas works at Lincoln Law and combines his two passions – admitting that the summer months are a big help.
“Daylight savings has been a real life saver! Winter has been a struggle. Sometimes we can work on it in the morning, other times we can go jogging at 8 p.m. at night.”
In another milestone win, Melton Magnate brought up Grant Payne’s 100th individual training success when he won the Perfection Plasterers Mobile Pace.
Payne also trained 558 winners in partnership with Mark Purdon between 2008 and 2012, including an impressive 45 Group 1 victories.
For full race results, click here.
Through Mike Lovefor Harness Racing New Zealand
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