Racing: Jones makes his point on Indikator

Indikator and Reese Jones. Photo / APN

If you don't think Reese Jones rode a good race on Indikator to win Saturday's $45,000 Amcor Kiwifruit Cup at Tauranga, just ask him.

Just kidding. Actually, the usually super-confident Jones was letting Indikator do most of the talking for the incredibly easy 3-length win in testing conditions.

The only comment in the usual Jones' vein was: "Next time they take him to Sydney they should look to take me with him."

Why not? Jones did the one task required to aid Indikator lumping his 59kg magnificently - he allowed him to relax for as long as possible.

He put him to sleep just beyond the middle of the pack and did not touch his mouth until it was time to push forward slightly to take advantage of some gaps approaching the home turn. Most of the others had been kicking up well before that point.

Relaxation for horses in ground like we saw on Saturday is critical.

But it can also be important in any type of footing. Hark back to Shocking's Melbourne Cup victory.

He was caught four and five wide throughout, but Corey Brown's extraordinary horsemanship saw him not move a muscle on the horse, who then clearly felt good about himself, despite racing in the centre of the track.

Had Brown got on Shocking's case for even 200m of that brutal 3200m the horse almost certainly couldn't have won the Cup.

Horses have to possess the temperament to do that and Indikator has plenty of it. "He's a lovely horse to ride, he just races so easily within himself," said Jones.

The truly remarkable feature of Indikator's win this season has been the ease with which he has achieved his goals. His four-length Rotorua Cup victory under 58.5kg and Saturday's stroll in the park under 59kg, defy what those weights normally do in anchoring even top horses. But, of course, there is a limit to how much weight you can throw on a horse's back, because, eventually, it will take its toll.

If there was one upcoming big target in New Zealand for good money you would risk 60kg or even 60.5kg on Indikator because he could have won on Saturday with those weights.

However, there is no real money to be won for a winter horse in the next few months.

Which means Australia again.

Keith Opie is keen to go back, despite being stung by the lack of suitable wet tracks on the two previous trips, the last only a few weeks ago.

Indikator finished 3.7 lengths off Saturday's Tatts Cup winner Ironstein in the WJ McKell at Rosehill on May 21, when the track was rated officially good, and on June 4 was fifth under Jason Collett in the Winter Cup on the same track.

"It's frustrating that we can't get the right type of track when we take him over," said Opie.

"But I'm keen to have another go."

Indikator is not that far away from half a million dollars in earnings, a stunning total for his type of horse.

He needs only the right track conditions in Australia to put a lie to his previous Australian form.

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You would love to see Wayne and Vanessa Hillis win the $100,000 Aussie Browne Pharmacies Winter Cup at Riccarton with Tauranga winner Art Beat.

The Hillises have long been very good trainers, but the stable luck has been largely absent for some time.

Art Beat is the right sort of mare to correct that.

There was a lot to admire about the dominant way she careered away from the opposition in the closing stages on Saturday.

It was yet another example of how the stock of her sire Captain Rio have come into their own.

Wayne Hillis understates his ability as a horseman every bit as much as he did as a jumps jockey.

He was one of the best judges of pace ever in that field and it won him a Great Northern and a Grand National.

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Further to our New Zealand jockeys story in the Weekend Herald, Daniel Stackhouse and Damian Browne captured more headlines in Brisbane and Melbourne.

Stackhouse, once thought of as a South Island jumps jockey, rode a winner at Flemington on Saturday, incredibly the 10th consecutive metropolitan meeting he has been successful at.

Stackhouse, on loan to leading Melbourne trainer Peter Moody, said: "I didn't set myself any goals when I got here, but what I've managed has far exceeded anything I could have imagined."

Damian Browne, another former South Islander, rode a winning treble at Eagle Farm on Saturday. winning on Mystical Grey, Excellantes and for Sheikh Mohammed he produced a patient ride to land Pinwheel home in the A$175,000 Healy Stakes.

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The value of apprentice allowances in the heaviest ground cannot be overstated.

Look at the Tauranga results. Rory Hutchings took 3kg off the first winner Arnold, Thamil Arumugam relieved 4kg from The Muffin Man and Master Power to win the second and the third and Surf Patrol won the fourth thanks to the 3kg Lisa Whelan allowance.

Maija Vance wound up the card by winning the last race on Toughasim with a 2kg claim.

There were no claims in the two main races.