Old firm gets Winter Reward

Tauranga owner Graeme Cooney has bred and owned a stack of horses and most have raced out of Hamish Hunter’s Ryal Bush barn in Southland.

Today at Winton the pair racked up another win when Honeycomb (Always B Miki) got up to win the $25,000 Kerry Hodges Memorial Winter Rewards Mobile Pace.

“The series has livened up the scene down here. Horses have stayed around for the winter,” Hunter said.

Driven by Hamish’s brother Peter, Honeycomb settled seventh on the outside early. With a lap to run she was three back on the outside with favourite Rakamick making the pace. At the 600 metres Hunter pulled Honeycomb out three wide to make her run, with Rise Up N Dance on her back. As the field turned in, Honeycomb had mastered Rakamick but Rise Up N Dance was looming large on her outside.

Honeycomb, under a hard drive, got to the line to beat Rise Up N Dance by a head with a length and a quarter back to Shergar in third.

HONEYCOMB REPLAY

“She’s just been a slow maturer. She’s a horse that has to have the perfect run and she got one today.”

Hunter doesn’t train a big team these days, with only four racehorses in the barn.

“We’ve also got a lot or young ones to work with and I’m still loving it. And days like today you love it even more.”

The win was Honeycomb’s second in twenty seven starts.

Cooney bred Honeycomb who is out of his five win Christian Cullen mare Shamrocks and races the mare with his wife Jill and two sons Dan and Ben.

He’s been racing horses for over forty years, his first winner was Flying Belle trained by Graham Bond at Ascot Park in 1985.

His first winner from the Hunter barn was Grenadier at Forbury Park in September 2002 and Hamish has trained more than 130 winners for Cooney.

Their best winners have been Nursemaid (14), Fireforefiddle (12), Devil May Care (11), Groomsman (10), Canardly Lover (10) and Grenadier (8).

For complete race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink