A checkered past is proving to be a blessing in disguise for in-form mare Quick Fire, who is presented with an opportunity to rise to another level at Te Rapa.
With maturity, the five-year-old daughter of Time Test has put a series of issues behind her and looms as a major player in The Callinan Family Taumarunui Gold Cup (2200m) on Saturday.
“She wasn’t physically or mentally ready to be there and now she’s had all this enforced time to develop, we’ve got this really lovely racehorse to go on with,” trainer Kylie Fawcett said.
“I’m really happy with her, she’s been a work in progress and had a lot of setbacks because she was very hormonal as a younger horse.
“Every time she came into season, she was frightening to put on the horse truck. She would lean all over the partitions and self-destruct, but we certainly don’t have that problem with her now.”
The late blooming Quick Fire has won five of her 16 starts, including three of her last five ahead of her open class debut at Te Rapa where she has posted two of her victories.
“She had her first start as a Christmas four-year-old, and she won that and then had another couple of goes in Rating 65, so she got exposed quite quickly,” Fawcett said.
“We put her out and then brought her back and had those problems with her coming into season and she whacked a leg in the paddock.
“She went out again, so I am very grateful to the owners who have been so patient.”
Quick Fire is likely to head for a short break following Saturday’s outing.
“I’m not going to give her too long, two or three weeks, and then she won’t lose a great deal of fitness,” Fawcett said.
“We’ll have a look around at some of the spring races, provided we get tracks to suit.
“Hopefully by next autumn, she will really come into her own and I’ve always thought she could be a really nice cups’ mare.”
Fawcett will also take the race day covers off unraced stablemate Hazmat when the monster three-year-old makes his debut in the Calf Donation Thank You Maiden (1400m) at Te Aroha on Sunday.
“Everything he’s doing has been a really nice surprise because he is ginormous, he’s 17.2h and 580kg,” Fawcett said.
“He is just so big, and we’ve always pegged him as a horse that gets over a bit of ground as he gets older.”
The son of Proisir finished runner-up in his first trial at Ellerslie in July and a month later won an 1150m heat at Te Awamutu.
“The trials have been nice, and he’ll have a run before I tip him out in the paddock for a month or so,” Fawcett said.
“He’s a gentle giant and a beautiful moving horse, but he’s still raw and has a lot more physical development to do.”