Another Country Cup for Awaitinginstructions
With just the two meetings on offer at Williams, Sunday saw the season wrap up for another year with the $14,000 Williams Cup the main feature of the day, with Awaitinginstructions adding another cup to his resume.
Plagued with foot problems, the five-year-old hadn’t started since January 21 when he was victorious in the 2022 Busselton Cup but after drawing well in the Northam Cup just a few weeks ago, he had to be scratched due to reoccurring issues, with Tim Blee and Matt Scott hoping to get the horse ready in time for Sunday’s cup.
“Steve Routledge got to work on his feet and the last three weeks he has been 100% sound and Matt was able to get him in very good order.”
Awaitinginstructions was scratched from the Northam Cup just weeks ago when he developed seedy toe that required a hefty amount of hoof to be cut away. Trainer Matt Scott confirmed that the horse now has specialised shoeing in order to keep him up and running and has come through this latest set back well thanks to their farrier, Steve Routledge.
Going into Sunday’s race, Blee and Scott were faced with the dilemma that the horse would only be eligible for the race if he was driven by a junior driver, so with that ruling out the horse’s regular drivers Shannon Suvaljko and Mitchell Miller, Scott contacted Hayden Hancock to lock him in.
“Hayden has been driving really well, had driven him in work some time back and so Matt grabbed him and booked him for the Cup.”
“Hayden came to the track and fast worked him Wednesday morning and he worked liked the Ossie of old.” Blee said.
Starting from barrier eight, he settled well back in the field over the 2666m trip, it wasn’t until the top of the straight when he was in the clear, the small but speedy pacer steamed home to win by 2.7m in a fantastic finish in the cup.
“I thought he was way overs at 10/1 and I don’t often have a bet, but I did indulge myself a little.”
“It all worked out well, I love the atmosphere of Country Racing. Hayden’s dad Mal was super excited, Matt broke his watch band cheering Ossie home, his family were all present, it was a cracker of a day,”
“The two-and-a-half-hour drive back to Manji (Manjimup) just seemed to whiz by. Ossie is the apple of my eye, I love him to bits, all 13.3 hands of him.” An ecstatic Tim Blee said.
Hayden Hancock, who has been driving in fine form went into yesterday’s cup after claiming the Denmark Cup just nine days earlier.
“This time of the year there is a lot of country racing which means I get a few more opportunities each week. The more you drive, the better you get so I think that has definitely helped me,”
“More than likely though, I probably just have to owe it to getting a few handy horses to drive and a bit of luck in running.” Hancock said.
Ashleigh Paikos