Trainer dead? Hold your horses!

STILL WITH US: Opaki trainer Gerald Innes.

Until last Saturday Opaki horse trainer Gerald Innes would never have realised he and the famous humourist and writer Mark Twain had something in common - for both men reports of their deaths had been greatly exaggerated.

As he was about to head to the Awapuni racetrack in mid morning, Innes got a telephone call from the wife of his jockey son Leith, who lives and rides up north.

Her opening remark of "thank God you've answered the phone" was a bit bewildering to him and taken by the trainer to mean she was thankful he was still available to take the call.

But she then said "no, thank God you are alive to answer the phone".

What then unfolded was the tale of a chapter of errors that led all the way across the Tasman to Australia.

Leith Innes, who like many riders has to take measures to reduce his weight for raceday, had been in the spa at his home when his wife popped her head in to say the police were at the door.

They had come to break the sad news to him that his father had "passed away".

An astonished Leith Innes replied, "what, my old man?"

His response caused police to name the supposed father as Ross Innes, an Australian.

Leith said he had never heard of the man and the relieved jockey resumed his preparations for riding at Te Rapa, while his wife did a final check by phoning his father in Masterton.

Subsequently the family learned the man who had died in Australia liked to have a punt. Having the same surname as the jockey, his acquaintances had been told by him, or had somehow assumed, the rider was his son.

Staying alive paid off for Gerald Innes, because hours after the exaggerated reports of his demise he produced a perfect result at the Awapuni races.

His charges Centre Attention and Blame de Angels won well and, of course, their names alone led to a ton of ribbing from those who heard of his fleeting acquaintance with the Grim Reaper.