Six years between starters – Ron’s back and nails it!

After six years away from the races, northwest Victorian harness racing hobby trainer Ron Irving joked he’d almost forgotten which way he had to go to get to Mildura last Friday!

But that certainly wasn’t a problem for his inexperienced five-year-old mare Winshemay (Auckland Reactor), who looked every bit the professional in scoring an impressive win on debut in the Award Winning Horse Queened Maiden Pace.

“I was hoping to get her to the trials this preparation and that was all,” Irving, a Robinvale builder, said.

“But once we did that and she trialled well – she really sprinted hard at her second trial – I thought I’d give her one start and see how she went,” he said.

“She had literally seen the mobile barrier three times before her run on Friday.”

That lack of experience was hardly surprising given Winshemay’s stop-start journey to her race debut. Irving battled a series of setbacks with the mare, while her quirky temperament has tested his patience at every turn.

“She’s a bit of a lunatic,” he laughed.

“We’ve got to blindfold her to get her on and off the float.  And I’ve had all sorts of issues with her – leg injuries, a leg infection and an allergy to lucerne that took a while to identify. We thought it was a virus at first.

“Now she’s just on a diet of wheaten chaff and lupins, that’s it. No vitamins or salts. I decided to leave her on a very basic ration this preparation because I really didn’t think we’d get this far.

“I did tell her when we brought her to the trials last time that she’d want to be alright – just to put up with her!”

Irving’s previous race starter was Jimmy Reactor in March of 2020, while his last winner, prior to last week, was Aintnooilpainting in January 2018.

He admits he has rarely put less work into educating a horse than his time with Winshemay. With work commitments taking priority and only a handful of other horses regularly working at Robinvale, Winshemay spent much of her preparation exercising on a jogger Irving built.

“Sometimes for weeks she’d never see another horse,” he said.

But everything changed when she began doing trackwork with Noel Walsh’s capable 16-win pacer Ronzel Micky.

“She’s improved out of sight since then,” Irving said.

“Ronzel Micky is obviously a bit better than her and it’s challenged her. It’s helped her understand what she’s supposed to be doing and she’s just gradually got better and better.

“She’d definitely shown me she had speed, but I said all along the test would be when she got to the races and we found out whether she had any stamina.”

The answer based on Friday’s evidence appears to be yes.

Starting from barrier one, Winshemay settled three back along the pegs before driver Ellen Tormey eased her into the one-one trail with 1200 metres to go. The mare sustained a long run from the 600-metre mark and dug deep in the straight to hold off a strong late challenge from Sweet Lucy Lou.

Watch the replay here: 

“Ellen was really happy with her,” Irving said.

“She said she felt like she has improvement in her, so we’re keen to see what she can do from here.”

Winshemay is raced by Irving, his daughter Emma, and long-time friends Noel and Jan Johnson, making the victory all the more special.

“I got to know Noel through (former Robinvale and now Bendigo trainer) Trevor Monk, who’d put Noel onto a broodmare called Krystal Apollo (Magnus Apollo),” Irving explained.

“Trevor liked the Magnus Apollo breed. He told me that ‘Johnno’ had a nice filly out at his place, the first foal out of Krystal Apollo, and that she might be worth having a go with. That was Kenna Mac, and that’s how it started.”

Kenna Mac (Golden Greek) is the grand dam of Winshemay and a mare Irving still rates as the best horse he has trained, a winner of five with seven placings from 27 starts.

“She had a club foot and joint issues, but she still ran 1:58 on the old Mildura track in 2006.  That was pretty quick back then,” he said.

The Irvings and Johnsons bred and raced Winshemay’s dam, Kayjay Mac (Village Jasper), who won four races and finished in the placings another four times from just 24 starts despite a career plagued by injury.

“Kayjay Mac had a lot of ability but she had back-end troubles – stifles, joints – it was something through that whole breed unfortunately,” Irving said.

“We’ve only bred Winshemay from Kayjay Mac, but she’s still here in the paddock and I think she’ll definitely be going back to the breeding barn again this season now!

“I didn’t intend to be away from racing for so long. Grandchildren came along, other priorities came up, and this mare gave us a few problems and time just got away.

“The horses are only a hobby for us, but it’s great to have one going around again now. We’ll give her a break, bring her back and find out if she’s alright.”

From Terry Gange for Harnesslink