Rebecca Waymouth woke up last Sunday morning thinking it was going to be Kipsiro’s day.
She had the six-year-old son of Secret Savings nearing peak fitness after two runs back from an injury-enforced layoff and was ready to go for the Wangaratta Stock Foods Trainers Premiership 0-58 Handicap at Wangaratta.
Then Waymouth arrived at the races and learned the gelding would be racing over almost 200 fewer metres than she thought.
“We went there really confident that he could run a big race and then we got there and the race, which was meant to be over 1590 metres, was shortened to 1400 metres,” Waymouth said.
“That wasn’t ideal. He’d only won once below 1600 and that was almost two years ago, but it didn’t matter in the end. He ran up to how he was going at home and won really well. It was a big thrill.”
Kipsiro got home by a long head in what was a shining example of Waymouth’s training talent.
He hadn’t won at TAB level since December 30, 2011 with his most recent victory prior to the Wangaratta success coming at the Balnarring picnics last year.
Waymouth is renowned for her use of the picnic circuit with horses recovering from injury, highlighting the benefits it gives horses out to regain confidence, which is what Kipsiro had to do after straining a suspensory at Pakenham in January.
He underwent a six-month rehabilitation process under the watchful care of Waymouth, which included extensive beach pre training.
He resumed with a sixth of 12 over 1200m at Cranbourne and was then fourth of 10 over 1520m – beaten just 2-3/4 lengths – at Mornington 12 days before his victory.
“We do all the work down here ourselves, we make full use of the beach and when you get a horse to come back from a tendon injury to win over an unsuitable distance it’s pretty satisfying,” she said.
Kipsiro’s victory stretched his record to four wins from 22 starts, with three further minor placings.
Waymouth is hoping she can achieve similar things with From The Vault. After starting his career in Sydney, From The Vault found his way to Waymouth at the start of spring last year, winning two of seven starts, before a stint in South Australia.
The six-year-old son of Charge Forward failed to finish better than fourth in 13 runs across the border but has returned to Waymouth, who is excited about reviving his career.
Further details on Waymouth’s team and how to join Waymouth Racing are available via the relevant tabs at waymouthracing.com.au