Tact McLeod - horse on the rise

Bruce Stewart Contributor

The Trevor Proctor trained Tact McLeod (Sweet Lou) is a horse going places and his win in the $25,000 Otautau Four Square Supermarket Wairio Cup today in only his ninth start, vindicates his harness racing trainer’s high opinion of him.

“If he’s as good as I hope he will turn out to be, we might head over to Australia with him and have a bit of fun. We’ll just see what develops,” Proctor said after the gelding beat Sand Wave (Somebeachsomewhere) by a neck.

Tact McLeod (7) beating Sand Wave in the Wairio Cup (Bruce Stewart Photo)

He added the five year old could be the best horse he’s trained.

Tact McLeod returning with Blair Orange (Bruce Stewart Photo)[/caption]

“We could have sold him. Diane (partner Diane Dynes) and I made the decision to keep this one because we’re getting older. Potentially he could be the best horse I’ve had.”

Proctor said Tact McLeod has been a project.

“At two and three he used to break if you put too much pressure on him. We’ve slowly worked on him and he’s slowly come right. We’ve put a pole on him, and he seems to be a lot more tractable now.”

Although Tact McLeod is eligible for the Country Cup Series, it’s not a priority for his trainer.

“I just feel I need to take him away for another trip to Addington. We’ll send him up to Mark Jones for a couple of runs and bring him home for a mini spell. Last time I gave him a long spell and he ended up getting a virus and he was out for nearly six months.”

Today was only the second time Tact McLeod has started from a standing start.

“I said to Blair before he went out that there were pins there if he needed them. I said to give him a wee practice (at the stand). I left it up to him. I don’t know whether he even put them in.”

The horse is named after the late Derek Dynes granddaughter Hayley McLeod, who had two daughters and a son.

“We named one Tact Charlotte, another Tact Maggie and Tact Fergie was named after her son. We then ran out of names, so we had to call this one McLeod.”

Tact McLeod’s winning time was 3-02.1 with the last 800 metres run in 58.4.

Sand Wave once again had to settle for second place. He finished second in last years feature to Robyns Playboy from a 35 metre handicap. Today he started off 40 metres and ran the journey post to post in 2-59.8.