Millers Magical Couple of Days
Classic Choice NZ winning the Albany Cup. Photo Credit- Photography by Jodie Hallows
In a space of just 24 hours, 26-year-old reinsman Mitchell Miller took out the Busselton Cup and the Albany Cup, with Classic Choice NZ leading all the way in the 2022 Wellington and Reeves Albany Cup on Saturday night.
In what could only be described as a whirlwind of a couple of days, Miller steered home Awaitinginstructions to victory in the Busselton Cup in an emotional win for Tim Blee and Matt Scott. After galloping on the first turn, it was all but over for them, with Miller making his run a lap from home and winning the feature of the season by a massive margin.
“Busso was more of a relief. Tim (Blee) has been trying to win one for years,”
“I was pretty confident Awaitinginstructions would win before the race, but thought he’d blown it at the start,”
“Horse went enormous for that little track.” Miller said.
Miller went into Saturday’s meeting pretty confident with his drive in the Albany cup, but Miller remarked that ‘Classic Choice did it so easy, it almost didn’t feel like a cup.’
Classic Choice NZ began well from barrier four and lead throughout over the 2690m, recording a new track record and smashing the previous one by three seconds, clocking a time of 1:56:1 and spacing the field by 29.2m over the staying trip.
“My only concern was whether he could run a strong 2700m, which he did quite comfortably.”
“Just topped off a super weekend, can’t say I’ve driven two cup winners in two days before, so definitely a career highlight.”
Barry Howlett made the trip to Albany from Busselton on Saturday night with six horses in tow, with the prominent stable walking away with three winners, including the race quinella in the feature of the night, the Wellington and Reeves Albany Cup.
Ashleigh Paikos