Racing returned to Awapuni’s synthetic track on Sunday and local trainers Shaun Fannin and Hazel Schofer capitalised on it, recording a winning double courtesy of Bubbajock and Fourty Eight.
Bubbajock rewarded his connections for their patience when winning his maiden at his tenth attempt in the Mark Duncan Livestock 2140.
The five-year-old son of Proisir was fresh-up off a break and was having his first start at his new home track after joining Fannin and Schofer’s stable last December.
“All the owners in Bubbajock are wonderful and they have kept the faith with the horse for a fair while now,” Fannin said. “He has been through a few stables, he hasn’t been easy.
“Being trained on the track at Awapuni, he knows his way around the synthetic track, and he got into a nice rhythm and was pretty strong throughout yesterday.
“He is a bit of a nervy sort of horse and being at home he was quite comfortable out there. He was pretty strong yesterday and I think we will stick to the synthetic track with him this season.”
Stablemate Fourty Eight is set to make his jumping debut later this month, and readied for it with a pleasing three-quarter of a length victory in the Martin Collins New Zealand 2140.
“I think he is three from three on the synthetic now. He is showing that he quite likes it there,” Fannin said.
“We were scratching our heads a little bit as to why he wasn’t performing in his last couple of runs beforehand, but we just gave him a freshen-up and he has been jumping a fair bit, and he performed well yesterday.
“He is quite a promising jumper, so he is going to aim for a hurdle race at Hawera on the 19th of May. I think he will give a good sight when he goes to Hawera in a couple of weeks.”
The stable has had a fair bit of success on Awapuni’s synthetic track and Fannin said it has its place over the winter months.
“It is a tool that has its place if you use it properly,” he said. “We find we don’t use it too often. When the wet weather is around, it provides a good surface for the horses. We just use it where we see fit.
“Some horses appreciate it more than others, but it definitely has its place and we have had a lot of success on it, it seems to suit some of our horses especially.”
The stable now sits on nine wins for the season, just one shy of last season’s tally, which the couple hope to break in the remaining months of the season.
“We don’t have an overly big team and we try and place them as best we can,” Fannin said. “Things have been going very well lately, so hopefully we can find a few more over the next three months.”