Horse racing: Magic moments for Robbie Patterson, winning both Thorndon Mile and Wellington Cup

Craig Grylls rode Puntura to victory in the Thorndon Mile. Photo / Race Images

When Robbie Patterson was a young horseman, he half-dreamed of days like this.

Back then, the Wellington Cup was as big as it got for a Central Districts trainer; the sort of race you hoped you might have a horse good enough to start in, so dreaming of winning a Wellington Cup was allowed.

Back then, what is now known as the Thorndon Mile used to be called the George Adams and even a cocky young fella like Patterson undoubtedly wouldn’t have been bold enough to dream of winning that.

That was the race of greats like McGinty, Grey Way and Copper Belt, the latter trained by Patterson’s mentor Kevin Gray.

No, that would have been a step too far.

So, what unfolded in a magical 40 minutes at Trentham on Saturday was a racing fairy tale as Patterson trained the winners of both the Thorndon with Puntura and then the Wellington Cup with Mary Louise.

“It is like a real-life fairy tale to have a day like this,” said Patterson, whose arrival on the big-race scene has been dramatic in the last three years.

A lifelong horseman, he was regarded by some as a Central Districts strike-rate trainer until Coventina Bay came along and won two Group 1s two years ago - but rather than just dip his toe in the deep end of our best races, Patterson has dived in.

He has been aided by two of the men who stood alongside him after Mary Louise’s Cup win yesterday, jockey Craig Grylls who rode the big-race double and Mary Louise’s owner Eddie Bourke.

“Gryllsy and I have struck up a great association and become close mates along the way so he is a huge part of what we do,” says Patterson.

“And Eddie has been one of my biggest supporters, so for us to do this together means everything to me.”

The double was made more realistic by rain on the day, which dulled some of Puntura’s rivals, with favourite Habana also doing himself no favours by sweating profusely pre-start.

But Puntura was simply overpowering, too strong for a brave El Vencedor and a beautifully ridden Lady Talena, who ran the race of her life in third at 150-1.

Mary Louise had luck of another kind, as not only did the soft track help her but the veteran favourite in the Cup, Waisake, dropped jockey Matt Cameron after clipping heels early. Both horse and rider were unharmed.

Puntura’s win means he may be too good for his next target, the $120,000 Taranaki Cup on February 3.

“That was going to be his big hometown aim but maybe now we have to look at another Group 1 mile at Ōtaki [February 24] instead,” says Patterson.

Mary Louise will target the logical Auckland Cup on March 9, even though Patterson realises the new StrathAyr surface at Ellerslie is highly unlikely to get wet, as Trentham did yesterday.

“She might not get the soft track up there but we know she can run 3200 metres - and how many horses can you say that about?” says Patterson.

Earlier in the day, the first $350,000 innovation race made possible by the Entain cash injection proved a popular victory for The Odyssey.

He was too strong in the hands of Courtney Barnes, to give her her richest win as a jockey - while co-trainer Ryan Foote only joined father Ben in a training partnership six months ago.

“Ryan deserves a lot of the credit for this as he has been doing much of the work with the horses while I have been looking at yearlings, so I am very proud of him,” said Ben Foote.