Well bred gelding Charlie James made it back-to-back wins when he powered home to take out a 3C0-3C1 over 2090 metres at Tattersall’s Park in Hobart tonight.
The Rodney Ashwood-trained gelding faced the breeze with Ricky Duggan in the cart but he was always travelling like the winner.
My Mate Nick led from gate three with Iden Mister Ed taking the trail from gate two with Duggan opting to go forward early and face the breeze so as not to get caught inside slow ones.
My Mate Nick turned for the run to the judge three metres clear but when Duggan called on his charge to extend the gelded son of Grinfromeartoear quickly put the end result beyond doubt.
Charlie James hit the line well clear of Master Chilli that ran home well to edge out My Mate Nick that battled gamely in the home straight.
Charlie James is owned by Jamie Cockshutt and Barry Cooper who have enjoyed much success in recent years.
They purchased Charlie James from former Tasmanian Darren Jacobson who was having the horse broken in by Ashwood who mentioned to Cockshutt that the horse (then a yearling) was for sale.
“We paid $8000 for him because he was by a good sire from a mare that was well performed winning about 16 races but he was such a nice type that we decided to take the punt,” Cockshutt said.
“He looked like being real good as an early two-year-old, especially after he won his first race but then he started to grow and he had to be tipped out.”
“He had a couple of little issues that had to be ironed out and we eventually got him back to the races.”
“There’s no doubt he has a long way to go before he will be competitive against the real good ones but we are hoping he has what it takes,” he said.
Cockshutt and Cooper have 18 horses on the books, four of which are yearlings domiciled in New Zealand.
“Barry and I have invested a fair bit over the years but we’ve had a lot of success, especially with the ones we have bought in New Zealand.”
Charlie James is named after Cooper’s grandson Charlie James Cooper.
“Barry always wanted to name a horse after his grandson and he was waiting for one that he believed would win races and this bloke has so far lived up to expectations,” Cockshutt said.
Related information
- Watch the race replays on Tasracing.com.au.
- Get the inside line with this week’s Punters Dashboard – Racing for Smart Punters.