Jack came back

Bruce Stewart Journalist

It’s been quite some journey for pacer Hijack (Courage Under Fire).

Sold as an unqualified pacer, he was shipped from Winton New Zealand to Australia, where he had five starts. Later he was returned to his original trainer Chelsea Faithful, for  whom he won today.

The gelding was purchased for $8,000 at the 2021 NZB Standardbred Yearling Sales by Drummond farmer Doug McLeish.

“Doug posted on Facebook that he was going to Christchurch and he was coming back with an empty float. And he asked if anyone wanted anything brought home. It was Yearling Sales time and being smart, I replied – ‘bring me back a horse.’ That horse was Hijack,” Faithful said.

Before he arrived down to Faithful’s stable, word started to trickle through that Hijack was not an out and out stunner.

“I was sitting in the grandstand at Invercargill and I got a text from Nathan (Williamson) saying ‘Doug has just bought you a camel.’ I got him home and he was definitely a specimen, but he was great to break in and was a lovely horse the whole way through.”

Looks aside, Faithful went about breaking Hijack in and he showed enough ability for her to like him.

“He was trialling nicely as a two year old and because he was such a big horse I thought he’d be so much better with a bit of time.”

 But that’s when things started to go amiss, with the gelding developing a wind problem.

“We got him scoped and he was a grade five roarer which is a bad as you get.”

He was sent to Christchurch to have a wind operation, but while he was turned out to recover, he cut his foot at McLeish’s property and required six months in a box to help it heal.

“After that we got him going and at that point a few people were after him. But Stu Valentine got in first and Mick bought him.”

Hijack won three workouts through September and October of 2021 and was subsequently sold to Australia. But before he raced over there, he did a suspensory.

A young Hijack and Chelsea Faithful (Bruce Stewart Photo)

“I got up at one o’clock in the morning and watched his first race and he ran second and I was happy with him. I’m not sure what happened, but he galloped in every other start after that and then he disappeared.”

The talented pacer never left Faithful thoughts though and she followed up his whereabouts when she ran into Valentine at the Yearling Sales.

“I thought I’d go and ask where my horse was, thinking that he was probably dead. I made the passing comment that if Mick didn’t know what to do with him he could send him back and I’d do a deal with him.”

A couple of weeks later Faithful received an email saying the horse was booked on a flight and heading back to New Zealand.

“I thought to myself ‘what have I done.”

Hijack was very light in condition when he arrived back in Southland and was given a ten month spell at McLeish’s property.

“He came back in and was six weeks away from a workout and he kicked a rail at home. When we got it scanned he had a hematoma on his back tendon so he had to have another six weeks off and here we finally are.”

In today’s return to the track, driver Nathan Williamson took Hijack straight to the top and there he stayed, winning by a length and a half from first starter Captain Robyn.

Hijack winning for Nathan Williamson (Bruce Stewart Photo)

“I think he likes it in front. He relaxes, but can be a bit lazy and waits for other horses to come up. Nathan said he would quite like to drive him with a sit as well. The ability is there, but probably not as much as it used to be. He still only gets probably eighty percent of his air, which he worries about.  I think that’s why we see the silly antics at the start. He had a couple of wee skips when he was scoring up. When you’re being pushed to the max and need your air intact, it’s probably quite stressful on him. I was getting a few questionable comments that he was back but he’s here, he’s won and whatever he does from here is going to be a bonus.”

Faithful is unsure of where the six year old will appear next, but says she’d like to keep him racing on the big tracks.”

It was a great day for the young Winton trainer, as earlier in the day she won with Rambin Rover (Net Ten EOM).

“I got him off Gavelhouse. Tartan Trilogy (galloping pacemaker) is sixteen and starting to wind down and Rover was bought to replace him and a horse for my partner Ben (McMaster) to drive. He wasn’t that keen on horses to start with, but he’s come round.”

The six year old went into today’s race in a fresh state.

“He’s had about six weeks between runs and I’ve been focusing on trying to get a bit of condition on him. I was rapt with that win today. It was probably unexpected.”

This is the third time Faithful has won two races on one day. The other two were at Winton with Tartan Trilogy and Toby O’Gara and Tartan Raider and Arnie’s Army at Addington.

It was also a good day for Williamson. Later in the day he drove Partytime and Utah Jazz which he also trains, to win. Utah Jazz is also owned by Boots.

Blair Orange also drove three winners – Major Burns for Kirstin Green, Amarula Franco for Tony Stratford and Joany Baby for Denis O’Connell.