By David Nagel
Slow to heavy tracks over a middle-distance journey in the spring – that’s the perfect recipe for success for Pakenham trainer Tim Hughes and his mudlark stayer O’mahlo who made it back-to-back wins at Moe on Thursday.
The five-year-old O’lonhro/Yule Lovit gelding has now won three races from his 17 career starts, with two on heavy tracks and one on a slow seven.
And his victory in the $35,000 BenchMark 58 Handicap (2088m) continued his recent love affair with the Moe track, backing up his win over the 2050-metre trip on September 13.
His only other triumph came at Mornington, over 2435 metres, on a heavy 8 in early October last year.
But Thursday’s heavy 10 – on his favourite track – seemed to suit him to the ground.
“He really enjoys Moe this little horse, he’s won two in a row here now so it’s great for him,” Hughes said after the race.
“I think he’s actually a decent little horse. He’s a bit narrow-gutted and quite light but last prep he got a clod in the eye at Yarra Valley and didn’t want to perform after that.
“We gave him a couple of runs without the blinkers and now he seems to be enjoying himself.”
While all the emphasis is quite rightly on getting a horse fit to perform at their best, mind games have played a huge role in getting O’mahlo back to the winner’s stall.
He showed enough good form for Hughes to run him in the $125,000 Yarra Valley Cup in March this year, but the clod to the eye in that race had a detrimental effect on his subsequent four runs.
“It really affected him, he didn’t even want to run up beside other horses for a long time so we gave him a couple of jump outs and trials without winkers and blinkers,” Hughes said.
“Now we’ve put the blinkers back on and he really likes them.”
Jockey Daniel Stackhouse has quickly built an affinity with the horse, sitting on his back just twice for two wins.
“He’s going super and he really liked the conditions, he travelled really well and we had a nice run through transit,” Stackhouse said.
“They went pretty early, but I just had to bide my time and the run came at the top of the straight. He loved the conditions and he was able to pick up through it.”
And O’mahlo may have earned himself a shot at the Moe Cup, ran over 2050-metres, on Friday, 15 October. Stackhouse said that in his current form the five-year-old could be a rough chance.
“He could be, he’s racing in consistent form at the moment, he seems to go really well here at Moe so he might as well have a throw at the stumps.”
