Tavi's Court, the beloved winter sprinter, rekindled his winning form with a spirited performance, securing his first victory in almost a year at Wanganui, New Zealand on Saturday.
This resilient eight-year-old had been showing signs of a resurgence with consistently improved performances in his recent races. He found the perfect race to compete against his younger rivals in the challenging rating 88 1200m contest.
Apprentice jockey Lemmy Douglas effectively utilized his 3kg claim to reduce the topweight of Tavi's Court, a son of Tavistock trained by Anna Clement, to a manageable 57kgs. The seasoned campaigner delivered in style, surging down the middle of the track to triumph by a neck over the unfortunate Flower Of Wanaka, who had been held up for most of the home straight.
Anna Clement had witnessed enough positive signs from her stable favourite recently to believe he could be a winning prospect under the right conditions.
“He thrives at Wanganui, and his last three or four runs have shown improvement, so I thought if we placed him well, he had another win in him,” Clement commented.
“Despite his increased weight, Lemmy's claim proved invaluable, and his performance in the previous start gave me confidence. His work during the week was impressive, so I had a feeling today might be the day, and it all fell into place.”
Looking ahead, Clement has her sights set on the Hastings Spring Carnival, commencing on September 9, as the next objective for Tavi's Court.
“We'll explore options at Hastings since he performs admirably there,” she explained.
“He secured third place in the Spring Sprint (Group 3, 1400m) last year, and in 2019, he was the runner-up on all three days. Now that he has regained his confidence, I'm hopeful he can replicate that success at Hastings.”
With this latest triumph, Tavi's Court has claimed nine victories from 48 starts, accumulating a prize purse of over NZ$247,000 for his owners, Graham and Annette Hill.
They bred him from their Keeper mare, Keep Her Free, who is the granddaughter of the eight-time race winner Free Court, the dam of the Group 1 Queensland Derby (2400m) champion, Court Ruler.