Joe Waldron made the perfect start to his New Zealand return, with his first runner back collecting a winning cheque at Riccarton’s synthetic meeting on Wednesday.
Waldron commenced his training career in the Waikato and has spent the last six years plying his trade in Victoria, and he has recently returned to his home region of Otago, where he trains out of Wingatui.
He brought half a dozen horses back with him to New Zealand, including Secret Beau (I Am Invincible), who broke through for his maiden win in convincing fashion when taking out the Stallion Tenders Now Open Maiden (1200m).
In the hands of Matt Cartwright, the son of I Am Invincible was taken straight to the front, where he was never headed, and he showed his class down the home straight when opening up a significant margin on his rivals, eventually running out a 4-1/2 length victor.
Waldron was duly rapt to score with his first runner back, and he was able to celebrate the victory trackside with his partner, Sarah Fannin.
“It was really cool,” Waldron said.
“I thought he would improve with the run as he has had a couple of quiet weeks after he got here.
“It didn’t surprise me that he was able to win, but he surprised me how he did it because he should still have good improvement coming out of the win.”
Waldron purchased Secret Beau online in Australia for A$4,000 and he has proven to be an astute buy, finishing runner-up in both of his Australian starts prior to heading across the Tasman.
“He has been a great wee pick-up for us,” he said. “We found him on Inglis Digital for A$4,000 after he had trialled at Hawkesbury. It was the right place at the right time.”
Cartwright had ridden Secret Beau to his debut runner-up result on Pakenham’s synthetic track in June and Waldron was delighted to renew their association at Riccarton on Wednesday.
“We feel very lucky to have someone of his ability riding for us down here,” Waldron said.
Waldron is loving his time back in New Zealand and said the climate hasn’t been too dissimilar to his former Australian base of Pakenham.
“It has been fantastic,” he said. “The horses have settled in great and the people are fantastic, they have been really helpful and really welcoming. Fingers-crossed we can keep things going.
“It reminded me of Pakenham (at Riccarton) – it was cold and windy. We have been blessed with the weather, there have been some cold, frosty mornings, but lovely days. No complaints, it’s no colder than it was over there.”
Waldron said many of his stable are still in the infancy of their spring preparations and Secret Beau will likely be his sole representative until spring.
“Secret Beau will line-up in a couple of weeks’ time, depending how he comes through the run,” Waldron said. “A few of the other horses are early into their preps, so they are still six to eight weeks away.”
While his stable is mostly made up of his own runners at the moment, Waldron has received strong interest from outside owners, and he is looking forward to building his team in the coming months.
“We have had a few people get in touch, so hopefully things fall into place, which means there are a couple of more horses in the stable, which will be cool,” he said. “Hopefully we can keep the ball rolling.”