Many people left Burnie very happy on Friday night, none more so than Spreyton trainer-driver Chris Aylett, who scored with Hurricane Kiwi in the second heat of the Allen Williams Memorial.
Aylett not only trained and drove the Hurricane Kingcole gelding to victory but he also owns and bred the horse with his mother, Cheryl.
“I am very surprised but very, very happy with the result,” said Chris about Friday’s win.
“At the bell, he sort of started to drop off a little bit, so I pulled the plugs and razzed him up and thought I might run third and get a couple of dollars, and by the time we got to the bottom corner, I was fair moving and got to those other ones pretty quick,” said the winning trainer-driver.
Hurrikane Kiwi scored by 1/2 metre in a mile rate of 2m 10.s. It was a win of satisfaction for the trainer-driver.
“I had to make a speech last night, and there was only one person I could thank, and that was myself, as I have had to do everything from a trip to Launceston to pick the semen up and everything with him through to last night’s win, it is very satisfying and a fair effort,” said Chris.
“He wasn’t overly expensive to breed, I used my breeders coupons to breed him, and the stallion wasn’t overly dear, so it is a pretty good payday,” said Aylett, who also collected his $10,000 Tasbred Bonus with the win in the $8,750 race.
Hurrikane Kiwi’s dam is Gone Feral who is by Kotare Kiwi, who is a horse the Aylett family raced with great success.
Aylett has now had to change his plans while he waits for the $12,000 final, which will be held on Easter Cup night in Launceston on 3 April.
“The more I can run him between now and the final, the better he will be, but we are under no illusions that you only have to look at last night’s time that we are a fair way off,” said Aylett.
