A heady ride from leading Central Districts jockey Johnathon Parkes played a major role in a form reversal for “pocket rocket” Gwynethanne as she returned to winning form.
With a decisive victory in the Powerworx Open (1800m) at New Plymouth on Saturday.
The five-year-old daughter of Handsome Ransom had finished amongst the tail-enders at Awapuni in Group Three company at her most recent start, a position that hadn’t thrilled her trainer Karen Zimmerman at the time.
“She really didn’t get much of a chance at Awapuni as she got well back during the running and when they sprinted off the front she was trying to go wide to make ground which meant she didn’t really have any chance to get into the finish,” she noted.“We had given the instruction to ride her in midfield that day but that didn’t happen so you could pretty much write that run off.
“This time Johnathon had her placed exactly where we wanted and when they went mad in front it gave him the chance to pick his time to bring her into the race which he did beautifully.“Even though he got pushed very wide it meant he didn’t have them dropping back in his lap and she hit the line like we know she can and won it comfortably in the end.”
Zimmerman is keen to record a stakes victory with the mare during this campaign after finishing runner-up at Group Two level last season.“There’s not much of her but she is a powerful galloper and I think she can win a nice race this time in,” she said.
“In the short term she will go to the Rotorua Plate in three weeks and then on to the Feilding Cup.“After that we might take a short breather with an eye to some of those nice races at Ellerslie at Christmas time like the Zabeel Classic before we put her aside and bring her back in the autumn.
“She ran second to Lauren Tate in the Travis Stakes at Te Rapa last year and I’d like to go back and go one better with her this time.”
