From the ten meter handicap, Dark Ghana started slowly. But driver John Morrison trotted the gelding in and ended up in eighth place on the inside. For the second half of the race, Dark Ghana was back on the outer running line with four. Morrison sent the gelding to the outside of the track and he rose to beat Sods Law by a length, with Top Of The Hill a nose back in third.
DARK GHANA REPEAT
“I watched the race in the birdcage. The winning post at Blenheim is well beyond the birdcage. He had some catching up to do when he went past the birdcage. I didn’t know he had won until the announcer said he had,” said Chris Morrison, who trains Dark Ghana with his wife Shirley.
They raced in Dark Ghana with their daughter Kerryn and with their son John riding, it was a family affair. The win was the seven-year-old’s fourth in just twenty-eight starts.
The gelding won impressively on the first day of the meeting, giving Chris and Shirley their first winner in partnership.
“She does a lot with the horses now. My legs haven’t been that good for years, but my back is good now, so I can still work hard.”
Dark Ghana qualified by nineteen lengths at Ashburton in April 2024 as a five-year-old.
“We let him run a few times during training as a three-year-old, but we had some problems with nerves and ulcers. My legs took hold and I was on crutches, so he had a year in the paddock.”
The win highlighted the good run of aging stallion The Pres, whose achievements as a stallion have recently been well represented by Jimmy Carter and The Present Maker.
Dark Ghana is out of the Sundon mare Thats Random. The family was developed by Bill Bagrie and left behind mainly pacers.
“We sent his grandmother Suzimo to a running stallion (Nostradamus), and that didn’t help much. Frank Bebbington said the mare is a nice trotter and that we should breed to a trotting stallion.”
From then on, the Morrisons bred two foals by Pernod Eden before breeding Dark Ghana’s dam Thats Random.
Meanwhile, it was a great two days for the Amanda Tomlinson/Ken Ford team. They won two races on Friday with Hope For Love and Misty Blue and repeated the dose today, with Hope For Love winning again and adding Zhutee to the total.
The Jamie Gameson mare Showcase also won on both days. And Gameson won on the first day with BJ Hunnicutt.
For full race results, click here.
Through Bruce Stewartfor Harnesslink
#Dark #Ghana