Sale clanger results in Group Two celebration

Ben Foote isn’t complaining about his co-owner Sam Beatson’s memory lapse that resulted in them retaining the smart three-year-old Sumstreetsumwhere.

The Cambridge horseman bred the son of Highly Recommended with his good mate, South Island harness identity Andrew Stuart and along with Beatson they race the gelding, who on Monday won the Gr.2 Sarten Memorial at Te Rapa.

“I do a heap of Ready to Run horses every year with Sam and he rang me up one day and said he’d forgotten to enter him in the Sale,” Foote said. “I guess it doesn’t matter now though.”

That was the second time Sumstreetsumwhere was to have been sold, the first after the horse had won a trial when in Foote’s care.

“He got vetted and he had a little spur on his knee and Hong Kong are quite strict about those things, but it doesn’t worry him,” Foote said.

Sumstreetsumwhere was subsequently transferred to Marsh’s Cambridge stable to begin his racing career.

“Stephen is a very good friend of all of us and I do quite a bit of pre-training for him,” Foote said.

“I buy and sell a lot and if I can’t sell them I like to race a few with mates and enjoy a day out without anything to worry about so Stephen can do all the worrying with this one.”