By Jonny Turner
Korbyn Newman’s return to the winner’s circle at Oamaru on Sunday was a special moment for his entire family.
Captain Cool shrugged off his mid-race work to score a highly impressive first-up win for the trainer, with Tim Williams in the sulky.
The three-year-old is raced by Newman’s uncle Mark and the estate of his late father Greg, who passed away in December of last year.
Captain Cool was having his first start since then, and his outstanding victory delivered a moment for the Newman family to cherish.
“The family is absolutely rapt with it being Dad’s horse,” Newman said.
“Mum made the trip down to watch him today, too, so it was a pretty special win.”
Captain Cool was purchased by the Newmans at the 2023 yearling sales and went on to have two starts at Nelson early this year.
The three-year-old showed he was ready to fire at Oamaru on Sunday with two nice trials.
“He is a pretty nice horse but he is still learning, and he’s taken a bit of working out,” Newman said.
“He is a big horse and he should only keep getting better, really.”
Captain Cool is Newman’s first winner from his new base at Yaldhurst.
The horseman previously trained at Woodend Beach while working for the Robert and Jenna Dunn stable.
After a brief stint in Australia, Newman now works for Regan Todd.
That means he trains his team while working with Todd’s star horses like Marketplace.
“I think Regan said I could drive Marketplace on race day, but I could’ve heard him wrong,” Newman quipped.
“I have had a couple of drives behind him in work and he’s obviously a really nice horse.”
“It is great being at Regan’s, he’s helped me with Captain Cool.”
Newman isn’t likely to be seen driving Marketplace, Captain Cool or any other horses in the immediate future.
The horseman isn’t planning on jumping in the sulky any time soon, despite having 80 New Zealand winners to his name.
“I am not out there enough, you have to be out there all the time, so I thought I would take a bit of a step back from driving at the moment.”
“Tim is out there nearly every race and he knows what to do, so I am happy to have him on.”
Williams was in fine driving form at Oamaru on Sunday, reining home a treble of winners. After his win with Captain Cool, the reinsman guided Bar Louie to victory in the Kurow Cup before taking out Sunday’s finale with Riptide.