Todd Willan’s emotions went from anticipation to the depth of despair when Mitchell Bell crashed to the turf and broke his hand in an early race at Scone on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Later in the day, the Muswellbrook trainer was supposed to help the leading provincial jockey Bell aboard outstanding galloper Artlee in the Listed Luskin Star Stakes.
This was the trio that swept the best sprinters in country NSW aside when they won the Country Championship final at Royal Randwick.
Artlee is a difficult horse to ride and Bell, through lots of hard work with Willan, has got to know virtually every idiosyncrasy of the four year old.
That was important to Artlee’s chances against the hottest field he was yet come up against.
By the time the field was going to the gates for the Luskin Star, Bell was on his way to hospital in Sydney.
Willan had a problem, searched around and found that Goulburn jockey Richard Bensley could ride at 54kgs.
The deal was done and Willan set about explaining how he wanted Artlee ridden.
He was well pleased with the result with Artlee pouncing late to win.
“It was a 12 out of 10 ride [and] Richard did exactly as I asked of him and more,” Willan said.
Artlee jumped on terms with the field but Bensley, under strict instructions not to give the horse a squeeze when the field jumped, allowed Artlee to settle back in sixth place early.
He eased off the fence approaching the turn then gradually worked his way to the lead to hit the front 75 metres from the line and win, pulling away, by a length.
“The horse has pulled fine, better than me [and] I will keep him at home for a few days then send him to the paddock.
“I spoke to Mitchell last night and he said he had a tear in his eye as he listened to the race on the car radio,” Willan said on Sunday morning.
“He kept apologizing to me but I told him not to be silly, it wasn’t his fault that the horse he was riding broke down.
“Mitchell will be spelling for a while but he and Artlee will be back together for the horse’s next preparation,” he said.
We know that could soon involve a tilt at some black type races over 1600 metres.