WELLINGTON - Taranaki trainer John Wheeler will contact Waikato breeder Patrick Hogan today but not to describe his horse's victory in the Queensland St Leger.
Hogan owns the Oak Ridge five-year-old gelding, who won the feature at Eagle Farm on Saturday, but Wheeler said he'll tell Hogan he'll be buying the
horse.
Wheeler is in a syndicate of three which races Classify on lease from Hogan. The lease contains a right of purchase agreement and that would be exercised before the horse raced again on Thursday in the $A165,000 Anniversary Cup (2400m) at the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane.
The purchase figure was described by Wheeler as a "good price" but would not reveal the amount as he considered Hogan might not wish it disclosed.
Wheeler races Classify in partnership with John Hamilton and his daughter Monique of Inglewood.
It is a partnership that is not restricted to racing horses. Wheeler said the Hamiltons prepare a lot of horses before they enter his New Plymouth stable for full training.
Wheeler said they also do much of the preparatory work on his jumpers that he takes to the Oakbank jumps meeting in South Australia in the autumn.
"They do all my Oakbank horses and they had Classify for a while," Wheeler said.
"John always has four of five horses for me throughout the year."
Classify did not begin racing until he was four when Hogan sent the horse to Wheeler as a potential jumper.
"Patrick thought he might make a jumper because he was a bit slow maturing," Wheeler recalled. "I said I would give him a go. He was nice horse so I took him."
Classify notched his fifth win from 20 starts on Saturday and the $A47,000 winner's purse from the St Leger took his earnings to about $100,000.
The horse's rise from obscurity to a very capable stayer was one of those fairytales that abound in racing, Wheeler said.
The decision to race Classify again on Thursday was not taken on the spur of the moment.
"We always had those two in mind," he said, adding the horse should be able to cope with it.
Classify, at odds of 4-1 and ridden by Kiwi jockey Opie Bosson, scored by half a length over Regal Lagoon (8-1).
- NZPA
