Nothing amiss with Village Kid, says his trainer

Press, 15 April 1986, Page 35

Nothing amiss with Village Kid, says his trainer

From

G. K. YULE

Brisbane

Any suggestion that Village Kid might have been feeling the effects of three races on the flintlike surface at Albion Park were quickly discounted by the five-year-old’s trainer, Bill Horn, yesterday.

The question was prompted by the fact that Village Kid, driven by Chris Lewis, had drifted almost five metres out from the rails in the run home when he continued on his winning way in the Inter-Dominion Championship series on Saturday night. “He might have been getting a little tired, which isn’t all that surprising when you remember he’d paced the second fastest 2100 m ever on the track,” he said. “Chris wasn’t in the slighest concerned about it when he came back to the stables and he’d have said something if he

thought he might have been feeling the track,” added Horn.

Village Kid paced the distance in 2min 33.85, a mile rate of Imin 575, coming on top of miles in Imin 57.8 s and Imin 55.5 s in the previous seven days.

Horn had just finished jogging Village Kid in Samford, some 22km from Brisbane, and he was preparing him to take him to the beach at Sangate, about 30 minutes drive away, to walk him on the sand and let him walk through the shallow water in the bay. "At home I swim him in the surf on every day that I don’t hopple him,” said Horn. “He’ll go to the beach again tomorrow and I’ll take him to Albion Park on Wednesday and give him a bit of light hoppled work. Then it will be back to the beach until Saturday,” he said. “I’d have preferred to have drawn in a bit

closer, but you just have to settle for what you get,” said Horn when asked about his barrier draw of No. 8. “The others won’t make it easy for him, but I think he could still win from out there. The tactics in the race are over to Chris. He knows the horse and is well aware of what he can do in a race.”

Horn, who describes himself as a hobby trainer, still works in his own butchery business for part of every day other than when he is involved at a race meeting. He and his wife, Norma, race Village Kid, which cost SNZ4O,OOO after he had won three races from Brian Notman’s stables near Auckland, in partnership with long-time friends, Gordon and Cecilia Cox. “If he wins the final on Saturday I’ll have won over a million dollars in stakes in four years with horses Gordon has had an

interest in,” said Hom. Horn has now trained the winners of six InterDominion heats. He produced the former New Zealand horse, Black Irish, to win two heats in Adelaide in 1984 and last year he won a heat in Melbourne with Village Kid. Black Irish went on to finish fourth behind Gammalite in the Adelaide Grand Final. There has. been very little betting on the Grand Final with bookmakers in the last few days and the 9-4 on quote on offer about Village Kid is expected to ease a little when the Victorian, Bag Limit, which has drawn No. 1, attracts some interest at 9-2. Several trainers of Grand Final contenders, including Hora and Kevin Williams (Master Mood) are unhappy with statements they are alleged to have made and published in Australian newspapers.

“Every paper in Australia, I think, had quotes from me after the barrier draw was made, but I haven’t spoken to a reporter since the races on Saturday,” said Horn yesterday. Williams is quoted as saying that Master Mood was jaded and it would take a miracle for him to recover sufficiently to have any chance in the final. “I certainly said he was a bit tired after three hard races in a week, but that was all,” said Williams.

“He’s never stopped eating since Saturday and keeps looking for more. Three races like that in a week take a lot out of any horse and none of the trainers of horses in the final are going to find it easy to have them right at their peak on Saturday,” he said.

Master Mood is being restricted to light exercise and will be given a moderate hoppled run late in the week.