Forever Miki goes three from three

Ashburton trainers Brent and Tim White look to have a nice three year old on their hands judging by the way Forever Miki (Always B Miki) put away a tidy field in yesterday’s Kotare Downs Three Year Old Stakes at Rangiora.

Once the field settled into order, driver Sarah O’Reilly had Forever Miki three back in the outside running line with St Paddy making the pace. When Ashley Frank improved three wide, O’Reilly was able to push off and get on his back.  When Ashley Frank wasn’t making the necessary ground O’Reilly brought Forever Miki four wide and he let down in centre track brilliantly, to win by two lengths from Bruciebytheseaside.

“It was the next test up for him really. It was a good drive from Sarah, out wide and to kick clear like he did. The other races he’s won he hasn’t really kicked clear. Yesterday he really did put them to the sword which is encouraging. The key to him is that he relaxes and each race he’s been in they’ve run genuine time,” Tim said.

FOREVER MIKI REPLAY

The winning time for the 2000 metre mobile was 2-24.6, a 1-56.3 mile rate.

The gelding began his career by winning on debut at Methven.

“He had a few issues with his feet about twelve months ago so we flicked him out and had plenty of trials leading into his debut. We were just tinkering with things. The plan was always to get the two year old bonus and have a spell over Christmas time.”

White says Forever Miki is a casual trackworker – unlike a lot of the stock of Always B Miki.

“Sarah does a fair chunk of his trackwork because he’s pretty laid back. He wakes up at the races. Yesterday he was standing there like a lamb. You wouldn’t think it was only his third start at the races.”

The gelding’s extended family includes star juvenile Lennon and champion free legged pacer Robalan, a family that Don Bates of Norwegian Wood Breeding has developed over many years.

He was bought by Tim White for a modest $15,000 at the NZB Standardbred Yearling Sales in 2024.

“At the sales that year we didn’t have a lot of confidence in what we had ownership wise so we were budget buying. We have a good relationship with Donna (Williamson). She’s our vet and she prepared him and also Conon who we bought out of the same sale. We probably didn’t put too much time and effort into it but it panning out so far.”

White said it took slightly longer than usual to syndicate the horse.

“It took us a couple of months on that fella, but once he finished his break in prep he was fully syndicated.”

Forever Miki is owned by Neil Pierce, Margaret Ingold, Tobby McClenaghan, Alex Millar, Leon Neal, Bruce Harper, Brian Kilworth, Chris Hindson, Dallas Woodford and the Gray Goats Syndicate which is managed by Josh Lester.

“We’ve got a real good base of loyal owners who have joined in the last five years and have shares in multiple horses. It’s a good model for a lot of them. Having a ten percent share in two horses increases the potential enjoyment I suppose.”

Forever Miki will have his next start at Addington in a fortnight when he’ll line up in the NZ Sires’ Stakes Semi Final. If he races well, he’ll move onto the $200,000 Sires’ Stakes Final a week later before finishing this preparation with the Champion Stakes at Ashburton.

For complete race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink