Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
When Serpentine trainer Giles Inwood leased My Little Big Man from Nathan Turvey about 14 months ago, the New Zealand-bred pacer won at his first five starts for him on South West tracks before finishing a close second to Seeryanfly in a metro-class event at Gloucester Park.
“But after those six runs I lost him and he lost form,” said Inwood. My Little Big Man went into Friday night’s meeting at Gloucester Park with a losing sequence of 19, and he bounced back to form with a runaway win as a $22.30 outsider in the 2130m Trotsynd Pace.
“I was considering moving him on and selling him to Adelaide,” said Inwood. “He was on about his last chance with me when I took him to the vets a couple of weeks ago for some treatment for soreness in his hind legs.
“He has had two starts since then, and he turned the corner tonight when I gave him a good chance of winning. Now I hope he can win another five in a row for me.”
Chris Voak, who was in the sulky for My Little Big Man’s five straight wins as a five-year-old last year, got the gelding away to a flying start from barrier six and he was never seriously challenged on his way to winning by three and a half lengths from $8.50 chance Barbados, who ran on gamely from fifth on the pegs at the bell.
Inwood bought My Little Big Man for $6000 a few months ago, and his win on Friday night was his first with Inwood as his outright owner. The New Zealand-bred six-year-old now has raced 41 times for seven wins, seven seconds and one third placing for earnings of $55,850. He managed only three placings from 12 starts in New Zealand.
My Little Big Man is by Lincoln Royal and is the tenth foal out of Mayor Heather, a winner of two races and $20,562 from 17 starts. My Little Big Man’s win was some compensation for Inwood, who had to scratch his six-year-old Rockin Rufus from race one on Friday night after the gelding had broken down with a bowed tendon.