For Wagga trainer Wayne Carroll, Sydney will forever be a happy hunting ground.
The Ganmain product was a prodigious footballing talent. After playing with South Melbourne, he became a member of the inaugural 1982 Sydney Swans VFL team, playing 56 matches, and kicking 57 goals, while winning the 1984 Mark of the Year award.
These days, the 65-year-old trains thoroughbreds out of his Wagga base, having prepared more than 300 winners.
Carroll has always got a handy galloper in his yard, and he landed a good win in Sydney last August, with Sumdeel emerging victorious as a 30/1 shot in the 1800m Class Three Highway Handicap.
On Saturday, Carroll trekked back to Sydney and made his mark, with Salute Again ($26) winning the 1400m Class Two Highway Handicap.
Ridden by Wagga jockey Danny Beasley, the four-year-old was taken forward before sitting second and third behind the early leader and race favourite Miss Thatcher (Amy McLucas, $3.60).
He was a bit keen at times, but Salute Again finished strongly, beating home the fast-finishing Chase My Crown (Andrew Gibbons, $9.50) from the Wayne Wilkes yard, while in third was the Brett Cavanough-trained Barradas (Ashley Morgan, $9.50).
Despite going around as one of the outsiders, Carroll indicated that Salute Again would have had his supporters back in the Riverina.
“I think plenty of people around Wagga would be happy,” Carroll laughed.
The Starspangledbanner gelding was very impressive to the line, and Carroll said he went to Sydney confident Salute Again would run a big race and that he knew his gelding was in for a big finish when turning for home.
“We knew he’d run well, and as a trainer, you just know; the horse was travelling at the turn,” Carroll said.
“I walked up behind the party of people in front of me and told them he was travelling.
“When Danny got off, he said he still had a lap full of horse, so it was impressive because he was just so keen, and he got off the bridle, and Danny got him back on the bridle again, and to sprint off the back of that tells me the horse can do a bit from both ends and that he’s got a nice tank.”
Starting ten times, Salute Again has now won three races and placed on a further four occasions, but it hasn’t been all smooth sailing for connections.
“He’s had some issues; he had a bit of a hairline fracture in his jaw, and we got all that sorted, but the break from racing allowed him to develop, mature, and strengthen up,” Carroll said.
“He was only a very small yearling, but in all his work, he’s shown ability, and you only have to analyse his races, and if you take out his first two starts, his next six starts, he was winning or just getting beaten in very strong races.
“After seven months off or whatever it was, he’s a nice size now, and a very powerfully looking individual, and the thing about him is that he will improve on today’s run.”
It was a full circle moment for Carroll, Beasley, and connections of Salute Again, who had combined for a metropolitan victory at Royal Randwick in 1995.
At the time, Beasley was a 1.5-claiming apprentice in town, and spectacularly, he led all the way on Within An Ace over 12 furlongs.
“Years ago, when I first started training, Danny was an apprentice in Sydney, and he rode a horse for me called, Within An Ace,” Carroll said.
“Danny led by 25 to 30 lengths over the 2400m at Randwick, and even the caller, who was Johnny Tapp, called him in front by 25, and in the end, we won by a length and a half.
“Danny thought at any stage of the race he was only in front by three or four lengths because his old Master told him never to look back, and he didn’t.
“It’s a great win because some of those owners in that horse are in Salute Again, and it’s just fun and a good result for everyone.”
Salute Again’s triumph adds to an excellent recent run for the Wagga stable.
Up-and-comer Kockibitoo broke through in a 1400m Country Boosted Maiden at Albury last month, while Nats Enough took out the 1200m Country Boosted Benchmark 58 Handicap Wagga earlier this month.
Danceenuff is another up-and-coming type, with the three-year-old winning a 1000m Wagga Maiden in April before her victory in the 1200m Class One Handicap at Wagga late last month.
