General News
15 October, 2021
Sunday Night Tea wins for Marshall
WHEN Clint Marshall gave his pre-race instructions to Sunday Night Tea’s jockey Neil Farley last Saturday, he was not expecting to be proven wrong.
WHEN Clint Marshall gave his pre-race instructions to Sunday Night Tea’s jockey Neil Farley last Saturday, he was not expecting to be proven wrong.
But the local trainer was thrilled he was, with the seven year-old gelding saluting in a 1400 metre event at Hamilton last Saturday.
Sunday Night Tea, a horse Marshall conceded to Farley that did not like to be crowded, burst through a wall of horses to triumph by a length from Effort and Loose Lip Lloyd.
“It’s a bit funny actually, I said to the jockey he doesn’t like being crowded but he proved me wrong with the way he burst through,” Marshall said.
“Looking back he wanted the win and he fought pretty hard to get through.
“It was a good ride by Neil. He just missed the kick but there was a fair bit of speed in the race and he didn’t get caught up in that.
“He just sat behind the speed and worked into the race as he came out (off the fence). It was a good win.”
The win was the son of Denman’s first since May last year and came about as a result of plenty of hard work.
Marshall had tinkered with Sunday Night Tea’s gear as it prepared to return from a spell, but those changes did not take immediate effect as the horse returned at Donald, then raced at Coleraine lucklessly.
Some more finetuning ahead of the Hamilton run followed, with the trainer confident a good performance was not beyond his stable fancy.
“They weren’t ordinary runs but for him it was two uncompetitive starts,” Marshall said.
“We had some gear on him that we had changed (at the start of his prep) because he had a few gear issues at the end of the last prep.
“I don’t think they agreed with him though so I took the tongue tie and crossover nose band off and put a tongue control bit on and he had a good rider on at Coleraine and was unlucky not to win that race.
“But coming back to his work and the way he looked I thought there was a nice race ahead for him whether he won or not.”
Marshall is now eager to press on with more races in 58 grade at seven furlongs, with a crack in the higher ratings events also among potential options.
“I think we’ll keep him at the 1400 for a couple more runs,” he said.
“We’ll go back to Hamilton next Tuesday for a 1400 so hopefully he gets a bit of luck there.
“Then we’ll look at some 64 grade type of races where he can be down in the weights and should get in quite well.”
Stablemate Amusing Magnus also performed well on the weekend.
“Amusing Magnus’ run at Penola on Sunday was honest finishing third by 1.5 lengths,” Marshall said.
“He’ll stay in South Australia and race at Naracoorte next Wednesday.”