Less than 24 hours after losing one in the inquiry room, Sam O’Malley officially brought up the first win of his training career when Landman (NZ) (Hello Youmzain) took out the Buckley Contracting (1100m) at Woodville on Sunday.
The former Group Two-winning jockey has gone into partnership this season with Bill Thurlow, having worked with the Waverley trainer for the last two seasons including a stint as stable foreman.
The duo sent out their first three runners at New Plymouth on Saturday and seemed to strike immediate success with Our Lady Brooke (NZ) (Derryn) first past the post in the James Hardie Rating 65 (2000m), but the mare was relegated to second on protest.
It was second time lucky on Sunday as Landman lived up to his $2.20 favouritism with a smooth win on debut.
“It’s a good feeling,” said O’Malley, who was previously the winner of 70 races as a jockey.
“We thought we had one yesterday but it was taken off us, so it’s nice to get one on the board this time around.
“Winning a race as a trainer is a bit of a different feeling to doing it as a jockey, in two quite different stages of my career, but both of them feel good in their own way. Hopefully we’ve got a few more of them to look forward to.”
O’Malley went into Sunday’s meeting with high hopes for Landman, a Hello Youmzain gelding co-bred and part-owned by Thurlow. He was a trial winner as a two-year-old last season and had shown good signs in the early stages of this preparation.
“He’s a pretty fair sort of horse and has always shown a lot,” O’Malley said. “We took him for a gallop at Hawera last Sunday with Ladies Man, where he went really well. That gave us a pretty good line on him coming into a maiden race today. We knew he’d be hard to beat.
“He goes pretty well and got the job done nicely today. I think we can look at something like the Wanganui Guineas (Listed, 1200m) with him now.”
The Wanganui Guineas will be run on August 30, a week before the traditional spring weight-for-age Triple Crown kicks off with the Gr.1 Proisir Plate (1400m) at Ellerslie. Thurlow and O’Malley will watch that race closely as their proven Group One performer Whangaehu (NZ) (Proisir) works towards the Gr.1 Howden Insurance Mile (1600m) at Te Rapa on September 27 and the Gr.1 Livamol Classic (2040m) at Ellerslie on October 18.
“Whangaehu is coming up well and will probably head for those last two legs of the Triple Crown,” O’Malley said. “We’ve got some nice jumpers around us as well, so we’ve got a few horses that are ready to fire up over the next few weeks. It’s exciting and I’m looking forward to it.”
