Corps desire a jewels start
Stu and Hayden Corps are living the harness racing dream with their handy 3yo filly Ultimate Desire.
Based in Christchurch, the father and son duo are landscapers by day, major horse owners by night.
“We have shares in plenty of horses, but Bailey (Ultimate Desire) is definitely the stable star at the moment” said Hayden Corps.
“I reckon we have 5 race horses, a couple of yearlings and a few broodmare’s in foal”
Brought from the Alabar Weanling Sales and originally prepared by co owner Brent Weaver, who shares in the ownership with his wife and the Corps, Ultimate Desire was the centre of a number of large offers as a 2yo.
“She won at Forbury as a 2yo back in May last year (2015) and a few decent offers came in for her, and a few times since we’ve have had some more offers. But we have always said that it’s not about the money, we just want to enjoy the thrill of a handy horse” said Corps.
And the thrills keep coming with the 3yo Real Desire filly who recorded her 3rd win from just the 18 starts at Ashburton Raceway last Saturday afternoon.
Dragged back from a wide draw, driver John Dunn soon found himself 3 wide around the first bend before slotting in fourth last in the running line.
Sent 3 wide again at the 1200m, Ultimate Desire had cover till the 800m mark; from then on it was up to the pint sized filly to display her toughness.
Dunn let his charge slide around the bend and was able to put a number of lengths on the field which appeared to be the winning of the race as they were able to hold on for victory by a nose over He Can Fly (Tim Williams), with ¾ lengths back to Christopher Banner (Ricky May) in 3rd.
Ultimate Desire set a new track record in 2-54.6, which is 1.6 seconds outside the NZ Record set by Nek Time back in March.
With a mile rate of 1-57.0, 800m 56.8, 400m 27.7, it certainly appears like this won’t be the last time the Corps visit the winners bar thanks to their super filly, nor will it be the last time Corps thanks the Tab for offering up odds of $15 and $3.20.
“I couldn’t believe the price she was paying, she went super last start and we were pretty confident”
“We have one eye on a jewels start, so we will be lining up this week and then hopefully in the Oaks to try and sneak a spot. She might not level up to the All Stars fillies but just having a jewels runner would be a victory for us”
“The credit has to go to Brent (Weaver) for developing her early and now Brad Mowbray for looking after her so well” said Hayden Corps.
WATCH BELOW: Ultimate Desire sets a new track record and records her 3rd victory:
Saturday’s victory also brought up a milestone for driver John Dunn who recorded his 800th career driving success. Dunn currently sits 3rd in the drivers Premiership on 88 wins, 5 behind Blair Orange in 2nd, while Brother Dexter Dunn is untouchable in the lead on 167 wins for the season.
Andrew Fitzgerald
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