Terry Wenn is approaching Jochen Rindt's Listed Woods Contracting Taumarunui Gold Cup title defence at Rotorua on Saturday with renewed confidence.
The Cambridge trainer admitted feeling rather despondent after the seven-year-old gelding produced a substandard run at Te Rapa earlier this month when finishing seventh of eight runners, beaten more than 13 lengths.
But after a few tweaks to routines at home, Jochen Rindt returned to Te Rapa two weeks later and was back in the winner's circle after a bold frontrunning win for rider Trudy Thornton.
"He seems very well in himself going into Saturday. I'm really happy with him," Wenn said.
"We had a few issues to resolve after that bad run. We were picking our bottom lips up off the ground, so it was a relief to see him bounce back last time.
"He'd just been sulking being left out in the paddock in the rain on some of those cold nights. We had him well rugged up but he went off his tucker. We started boxing him and he began eating again and you could just see his energy levels lift the week of his last win.
"The other problem was he never got to the front at Te Rapa when he went so badly and that might have been a factor, but he might not have had the energy to get there either.
"Anyway, he's firing on all fours now. Shaun Phelan popped him over nine fences the other day and he really ripped into his task so hopefully we're all go."
A winner of seven of his 33 starts, Jochen Rindt registered his biggest win in last year's Taumarunui Cup, beating Pump Up The Volume, a rival again on Saturday.
"He's pretty much the same as he was last year and he loves Rotorua," Wenn said.
"The only time he's ever gone badly there was in a sprint and he's not a sprinter, but the young apprentice dropped his whip that day too which didn't help.
"He's got in at the right weight - only a kilo more than last year - and he's beaten all those horses before."
