ALMOST two years ago Malcolm Campbell and his son Justin’s life partner Maree Fasoli attended the 2013 Tasmanian Standardbred yearling sale in Launceston with the hope of buying a pacer that would race at two.
They ended up buying a filly for a modest $2000 and had no idea whether it would develop into the horse of their dreams.
On the way home they stopped at Campbell Town because they were really thirsty and it was then that they agreed to name the filly Really Thirsty.
With no transport arranged for the yearling to be taken fro the sale yard they accepted an offer from Gareth Rattray to deliver he filly to the Hobart harness meeting the following night and it was there that Justin Campbell, the filly’s designated trainer, caught first sight of her.
He admits to not being pleased with what he saw and the first year of training resulted in multiple disappointments for both trainer and owners.
But the perseverance factor kicked in and in Hobart last night Really Thirsty delivered a stellar performance to win a heat of the Allen Williams Memorial series at only her third start.
She did enough at her first two starts for minor placings to suggest she had a future and punters were keen to back her into near favoritism ($4) on the strength of those two previous efforts.
Campbell had Really Thirsty well placed in the one-out line but when he sent her three-wide to attack for the lead and found the front turning for home she tried to pull up.
But under strong driving the now four-year-old mare regained the lead and powered clear of her rivals over the concluding stages to win comfortably from Kirbyelle and Acey Boy.
“To say Really Thirsty is a work in progress would be an understatement,” Campbell said.
“If you rated a horse’s ability based solely on endeavor on the training track she would never have made it to the racetrack.”
“I think she has just been a slow learner but on tonight’s effort she has now shown some ability where it counts.”
“I’m not saying she will win a lot of races but she definitely has shown vast improvement since she started racing so we are optimistic about her immediate future,” he said.