Horse racing: Emotional Ruakākā win for Beetlegeuse in Jimmy Schick’s memory

It felt as though Triston Moodley had an angel on his shoulder as he steered Beetlegeuse to victory in the Northland Business Systems (1600m) at Ruakākā on Saturday.

A son of Rageese, Beetlegeuse was bred by Windsor Park Stud co-owner Gina Schick, who races the 4-year-old in the care of Sam Mynott. Just over a month ago, tragedy struck the Schick family, with 10-year-old Jimmy losing his life in an ATV accident.

In the maiden contest, Moodley wore the familiar Windsor Park colours – including Jimmy’s favourite cap – and his mount was full of running early as they took up the pacemaking role. Beetlegeuse travelled beautifully and after kicking clear at the top of the straight, he was never in danger, saluting by two lengths over Embossed.

Despite closing at nearly $40, Mynott had been quietly confident in the gelding, who was third-up this preparation.

“I was actually quite confident with him, his work has been outstanding and he was quite unlucky in his first-up run, then just didn’t cop the wet track at Tauranga,” she said.

“I was pretty happy with the way he was going, I was just praying for a semi-decent track to give him a go on, which we got up there on Saturday.

“I left it up to Triston, but I wanted to be nearer to the front. Whether we led or not was up to him. It worked out well and he gave him a beautiful ride – he made all the right decisions.”

Mynott shared that much of Beetlegeuse’s race preparation had come at the Windsor Park property in Cambridge, making it very much a team effort.

“It was very special, the horse wore Jimmy’s cap which was pretty cool and it was super to get this win for Gina,” she said.

“His last three gallops were on the beautiful grass track out at Windsor Park and there has been a lot of people involved with him, so it was a fitting result.

“He came to me towards the end of last year, he had a few little issues that we were able to iron out. He had to have surgery to get an infected tooth pulled out, which set us back a couple of months, so we’ve been patient with him.

“Fair play to Gina for giving him that time, and for trusting me that he was worth carrying on for.”

Out of an unraced Niagara mare Rose Grace, Beetlegeuse was Mynott’s 16th winner of the season from just 92 starters.

– LOVERACING.NZ News Desk