Racing: Owner in Britain shares in the excitement of King Kapisi's victory

What a wonderful thing the internet is.

Andre Galvin watched his horse King Kapisi score a runaway win at Avondale yesterday via the net from his London home.

It was 4am in London and the neighbours might have had a torrid time judging by the noise coming down the cellphone to father Brian and King Kapisi's Cambridge trainer Yves Seguin in the Avondale birdcage.

Galvin has been employed in the UK banking business for 10 years and last saw King Kapisi as an unraced 3-year-old in New Zealand more than a year ago.

"He hasn't been lucky enough to be at home when the horse has raced," said father Brian.

Galvin bred King Kapisi and has a coming topliner on his hands.

He was a good thing beaten when blocked for a run in the home straight at Tauranga at his previous start and Yves Seguin yesterday asked Craig Grylls to take the horse to the lead early if possible in the WHK Premier R70.

"I'm pleased I did because my goggles fogged up so badly in the back straight I couldn't see a thing.

"I rode the last half of the race with no goggles, so I was pleased to be in front. I was pleased to be leading when I couldn't see as well."

As soon as Grylls asked King Kapisi to sprint on the home bend the pair put four lengths on the opposition then the gelding's well-known greenness kicked in. Each time Grylls asked him to sprint he ducked sideway, fortunately being well clear of the others on each occasion.

He won by an easing down 3 lengths. "He's doing it only on raw ability - he's very, very good," said Grylls.

"You're going to have a lot of fun with him," he told Brian Galvin and the trainer.

Brian Galvin doesn't rely solely on watching his son's horse - he owns a share in classy filly St Germaine, just beaten in the Levin Classic last Friday.

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Sir Patrick and Lady Justine Hogan and fellow owner Sir Michael Fay struck first blood yesterday with Irish Jewel making a winning debut in the $15,000 La-z-boy Chair Premier.

The Street Cry filly had indicated pretty good ability with a Cambridge barrier trials win in late October.

Opie Bosson won clearly on Irish Jewel for trainer Andrew Scott, with a tight finish for the minor placings between Shekels, La Pinnicle and Rio Negra.

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Persistence can be the name of the game in horse racing.

That is once you know a horse has ability.

Peter and Kim McKay knew Vincent Mangano had ability when they took a cheque home for $560,500 after winning the Karaka Million in late January nearly two years ago.

Vincent Mangano had, after all, beaten the best juveniles around in coming from last on the home bend in the exciting Ellerslie event.

Remarkably, if almost unbelievably, Vincent Mangano did not win another race in his next 16 starts through a year and nine months.

Those races resulted in: 7th, 8th, 10th, 13th, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 3rd, 6th, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 12th, 10th and 4th for collective stakes of just $11,300.

But Peter McKay is not one to give up easily, perhaps befitting an ex-Southland jumps jockey.

McKay changed a few things around with Vincent Mangano, including the way he was being ridden, and the gelding won at Riccarton on November 14.

He backed that up with victory, under 58kg, in the Jon Mudgway Memorial Premier at Avondale yesterday.

Both were $30,000 races, but it's not only the money that the McKays are interested in - there's a lot of pride going on here.

Chad Ormsby rode Vincent Mangano well to get him home from a wide gate and it might not be his last back-to-form success.