Tim Blee & Kyle Harper with Collie Cup Winner Awaitinginstructions Photo by Jessica Joy Photography
Awaiting Instructions claimed the Joe and Margaret Suvaljko Memorial just two weeks ago, and the standing start specialist has done it again, this time taking out the seasonal feature at Collie, the2025 Bendigo Bank Collie Cup.
Overcoming the 20m handicap in the Cup, the Matt Scott trained, and Kyle Harper driven stepped perfectly from his marker and was able to get into a position quickly over the 2670m trip, hitting the front in the home straight to win by a 2.4m margin, a fairytale result for his proud owner, Tim Blee.
“It’s pretty special today, two years ago my brother died, on this day, and Mikipelo won the cup and to come back here and win it today is very, very special, with a very special little horse, who’s had no end of troubles with his feet.
“He’s been expertly trained by Matthew, and he’s won 19 races and has had no right to do that, I’m a big supporter of country trotting and Collie in particular, I always try to have a runner here, and you’ve got no idea how I feel today, it’s fantastic.” An emotional Tim Blee explained.
Plagued with issues with his feet Blee made special mention to stable farrier Steve Routledge who has done a phenomenal job on Awaitinginstructions feet, now a winner of 19 races from 107 attempts, with his stakes now just shy of $150,000.
Awaitinginstructions has proven himself a tight track specialist, winning first up since arriving here in the west at Busselton back on Boxing Day, 2019.
In 2022 he went the country cups double, claiming the Busselton Cup then resuming after a short let up to take out the Williams Cup.
2022 was a great year for the small but mighty Courage Under Fire gelding, adding two metropolitan standing start wins to his resume.
Collie has wrapped up once again after a fantastic four-meet season, with other winners on the day including two-year-old double westbred filly Our Blue Diamond for Peter Anderson and Shannon Suvaljko in the first.
Race two saw a Reeves quinella, with the father and son runners I See Fire and Gota Good Warhol finishing in the top two, with the Lauren Harper reined I See Fire claiming top spot with a 1.1m margin.
Peter Anderson celebrated a training double on the day with By Royal Command taking out race three in impressive fashion.
The win gave Abbey Vidovich her first win of the day when they skipped away to win by a 19m margin.
Hurricanehope continued her impressive form with the $2 favourite taking out race four on the card for Michael Young and Emily Suvaljko.
The final race of the season went the way of Tubbs Farquhar for trainer Hayden Reeves, giving Abbey Vidovich a driving double on the day.
Ashleigh Paikos
