THE PATH which trainer Ben Foote plotted with Ego from the stabling barn to the birdcage at Ellerslie yesterday almost certainly won him the $85,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Concorde Handicap.
All he had to do was not copy most other red-blooded males on course yesterday and avoid noticing any females along the way.
Foote became strapper for the first time in longer than he could remember, determined not to have a repeat of the previous start at Pukekohe, when the randy stallion spotted a couple of fillies and became so wound up he couldn’t perform up to his best.
Yesterday his sole job was to sight where the four mares in the race were heading, and to go in the opposite direction.
And, after getting the horse on to the track very relaxed and focused, Ego did the rest, leading virtually throughout to give owners Daniel and Elias Nakhle back-to-back Concorde wins, after Irish Colleen won the feature last year.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/sport/racing/4424168/All-Ego-needs-is-no-girls