The Father Patrick A five-year-old gets the chance to go back-to-back-to-back on the coastal circuit in consecutive years.
“I’m not sure that’s ever been done,” Woodend Beach coach Gavin Smith said.
Premium Player completed the clean sweep with two wins at Westport and then at Reefton in 2024. This year he has already repeated those successes at Westport on Boxing Day and again yesterday.
In the final leg of the three-peat he will start tomorrow at 30 meters at Reefton in the Endura Mining/Snowy River Gold Mining Cup.
While Smith enjoys family time in Invercargill, Premium Player is being watched by trainer Matt Purvis and John Dunn is riding with him.
“They did a great job taking care of him while I was away.”
Premium Player showed his speed on the first day at Patterson Park by beating Rachmaninov, while yesterday the same quinella took place.
Premium Player started well from his 20 yard handicap to establish himself in midfield. Working from the fence, Dunn and Premium Player moved into one-in-three-back position from the 1100 meters before attacking Rachmaninov just short of the line to win by three-quarters of a length.
“He has a cyst in his hock – so he does a lot of his work in the pool and some fast work on the lead,” Smith explains.
“It thrives on the grass and dirt paths, although we can’t work it the way we would like to work it.”
Because of this, Premium Player simply cannot cope with racing in the big cities if he is high in the rankings.
“He might be retired because we can’t race at Addington. If he wins and gets a 70 rating then there’s nothing that suits him,” says Smith. “I learned that the hard way this year with him after he won all three on the Coast last year and rose high in the classes.”
Premium Player was bred and raced by Edward (Ted) Edwards. He is out of Princess Anastasia, a full sister of Maria Tsarina who is the mother of the Nathan Williamson-trained Duchess Maria, who has currently won four out of four.
Click to see the field at Reefton on Tuesday here
Through Mike Lovefor Harness Racing New Zealand
#Premium #Player #ready #unique #clean #sweep #West #Coast