The freezing conditions that met the start of yesterday's Te Teko meeting steadily improved as champion jockey James McDonald progressively drew even further clear of the pack in his quest to establish a record seasonal total that won't be easily broken.
In keeping withMcDonald's bag of four winners, the conditions were almost balmy towards the end.
Which mirrored McDonald's mindset.
"I know it wasn't one of my season's goals [a couple of group ones, the seasonal record, 198, and the premiership], but the 200 wins is a nice feeling.
"It's a nice round number."
Except by the time McDonald had finished yesterday the tally had grown to 203.
Things didn't go right last week when the Paeroa meeting was abandoned and in the last two races at Ruakaka, when on the favourite in both races, the second-last one was scratched for not entering the barriers and the horse in the last event beat one home.
One of the remarkable features of yesterday's four-bag tally was a $1 win bet on each of the seven rides would have netted $16.40, a result you rarely see with such a hot property that's under the eye like McDonald.
He started off by finishing last in Race 1, ninth in Race 2 then getting over the top of 200 winners for the season in the third on the Matamata 2-year-old Showing Off for Danica Guy.
He followed up with victory on the Frank Ritchie-trained Star Of Reims then Delta Lad for John Charters and Hawick Park for Shaune Ritchie, currently overseas.
Pick6 punters would have been delighted with the apprentice's efforts with his quartet helping their cause.
And the all-important question - how long does New Zealand have James McDonald for?
The smart money says not long, but a date hasn't been set.
The safest bet is almost certainly a trip to the Melbourne Spring Carnival and staying there.
