ANDREW HARRISON

BY their high standards, the Dennis Drier stable has been quiet since racing resumed after lockdown but it was business as usual at Hollywoodbets Scottsville yesterday with three winners lifting the gloom.

Most impressive was maiden winner Hail Columbia and given Drier’s high praise for the Irish import, the gelding is definitely a horse for the notebook.

Although bred to northern hemisphere time which puts him six months behind others of his generation, he has been a late starter mainly due to his aversion to the starting stalls.

“He has been a bit of a nightmare at the pens,” revealed stable rider Sean Veale. “Many thanks to (horse  behaviouralist) Mike Shaw.” The starters assistants were given some work to do before taking up his gate but there were no serious issues.

Hail Columbia was hard into the bit for the first few furlongs but still had plenty to come when Veale eventually released the handbrake.

Well fancied on debut, he came up against the highly rated Captain Fontane, but both Drier and Veale were disappointed that they got beaten. “I thought he would win,” said Drier, “but he bumped a bloody good horse and Garth’s horse is going somewhere.”

“If people were watching closely, my horse slipped coming out of the pens. We could have finished a lot closer,” said Veal.

“I think (mine) is a progressive little horse,” concluded Drier.

Earlier the stable sent out Spring High who also let the side down on debut. “He was so green,” said Veale. “The boss was clever and put on the blinkers.”

“We though he would win and were disappointed but we put on a little pair of blinkers,” confirmed Drier.

Three runs later Dieci completed the Drier treble as the mare backed up her last win with a stout effort to get the better of favourite Georgina Rose.

Solid Gold has always had potential but has never been the easiest to catch ‘right’. He was in a galloping mood yesterday and in spite of stretching Serino Moodley’s arms in the early exchanges, he quickened smartly in the straight to hold a fast-finishing Brass Bell and give Michael Roberts a double with Rachel Venniker doing the honours on Enjoy The View in the Workriders Conditional Plate.

A seasoned punter once opined that when the weather changes suddenly before a racemeeting one needs to be wary of upset results. His prophecy rang true yesterday, with berg wind to freezing overnight. Solid Gold (10-1) started the Pick 6 rot and after the last leg was run the pay-out was to 0.05 tickets with R1093554.50 carried over to another day.