It was from Perth to Kyneton, and on to Moe for a first-up win for a new group of owners and long-time local trainer Neil Dyer.
This is the absorbing story of Metro Boy, a four-year-old galloper with three city wins from 18 starts to his credit in Western Australia, and how he was almost stranded because of COVID-19 border shutdowns.
Dyer, best known for three Darwin Cup victories and Mrs Bentley’s Kyneton Cup successes, gives all the credit to his 18-year-old son James for Metro Boy ending up in his care.
James, after a stint at carpentry, is now enjoying working with racehorses full-time in his father’s Kyneton stables, and he spends some time looking online for possible “bargain buys”.
He came across Metro Boy listed in an online auction, and told his father.
The sprinter, trained by Dan Morton and ridden by ace Perth jockey William Pike in all his wins, was passed in.
Neil Dyer followed up and found Metro Boy was available at what he considered to be a very reasonable price, perhaps due to uncertainty created by the pandemic.
An offer was made and the sale clinched just over two months ago.
A horse transport company initially could not guarantee Metro Boy would be freighted from Perth, due to imminent border closure because of the pandemic, but the trip finally took place and Metro Boy arrived in Kyneton.
A syndicate of 16 owners, including several Dyer stable clients and a couple of the original owners from Perth, got a quick return for their outlay.
“We love this horse, he’s elegant with a fine temperament like you could have him in the backyard,” Dyer said.
Metro Boy settled in and recently finished third in a jump out at Kyneton behind two of George Osborne’s gallopers. As a consequence, Dyer said he was not over-confident of what would happen at Moe in the BM64 race over 1011 metres last Tuesday. In-form jockey Daniel Stackhouse was aboard.
“He had topweight of 61.5kg and a wide barrier, but Moe has a good surface and being three wide near the lead was not a disadvantage. He travelled well to the corner and took control in the straight,” Dyer said.
“I think he may be one of those horses who saves their best for race day, rather than in track gallops.”
The 450-kilometre round trip was successful, and Dyer said he hoped Metro Boy, who pulled up well after his first outing in Victoria, could continue on and eventually be competitive in midweek city company.
Metro Boy’s win took his career earnings to over the $133,000 mark.
NO DARWIN THIS YEAR
For the past 12 years Dyer has taken a team of gallopers to the Darwin Cup Carnival, and has a remarkable strike rate up north.
He’s won every major race in Darwin, but this year the carnival has been cancelled because of COVID-19.
On reflection, Dyer thinks it may be a positive in that he can devote more time to building up his team at Kyneton.
In the past, his gallopers coming back from Darwin have often been near the end of their preparations rather than being fresh and ready to go.
Last year Dyer actually trained 16 winners in the Northern Territory, far more than in his home state.
He presently has a couple of well-bred young horses on the books, looking for owners.
ANOTHER FOR DYER
It was a very good week for Dyer Racing, with Latest Bentley winning the Porter Plant Handicap narrowly at Ballarat on Sunday.
Ridden by apprentice Campbell Rawiller, the six-year-old travelled in third place for much of the 1400m journey and managed to hang on to beat the fast-finishing Rock’n’ Rollrock, much to the delight of a large group of connections.
Lucky Bentley, starting at $11, chalked up his fourth race at his 37th start, for career earnings of $86,895. He had not won since October 19 last year at Kyneton.
Having always been in the Neil Dyer stable, Lucky Bentley is from the mare Mrs Bentley, who won 14 races and was very popular with Kyneton district racegoers.
