Patience pays off

By David Nagel
WHILE local jockey Craig Williams was in Japan trying to win one of the world’s great races, the Japan Cup, the Cranbourne Turf Club held a seven-race card on Saturday afternoon.
Visiting trainers dominated the day but Grant Dalziel got the locals off to a flying start when he prepared Raffinate to win the opening race on the card, the $12,000 Steve’s Liquor Springvale Maiden Plate (1200m).
The four-year-old son of Reset was having his second race start and was not wanted by punters, drifting from $4.80 out to $8 before the gates opened.
Once the gates did open, jockey Reece Wheeler gave Raffinate a gun run, sitting third throughout the race before kicking two lengths clear at the top of the straight, cruising home to win by a length.
A four-year-old having his second start would indicate Dalziel has had some major issues to contend with, but in reality it’s just been a waiting game.
“The Resets seem to be a bit fragile mentally, they’re a bit temperamental that way so we’ve been very patient with the horse,” Dalziel said.
“Reset was the same; he was very fragile and wasn’t great around the barriers either.”
Dalziel has been breaking in horses for along time and identified the chink in Raffinate’s armour at an early stage, the time he has given the horse to mature is now paying off.
“He’s definitely got some ability, he did a lot wrong in the race but when they turned for home he put two lengths on them pretty quickly, not many can do that,” he said.
“Physically he’s anything but fragile but we’ll still take our time, give him three weeks between runs and see where it takes us.”