Veteran St Arnaud horseman Denis McIntyre is using Saturday night’s assignment at Melton as a litmus test for his in-form pacer Captain Pins.
The son of Captaintreacherous has won his only two starts in impressive fashion at Melton after returning from spell.
“He has always had nice ability, but this race will tell me how good he needs to be,” McIntyre said.
“It’s likely that he won’t win from the draw, so I’m hoping that a few of them contest the lead and he gets a last go at them.”
Returning to the sport eight years ago after a long sabbatical, McIntyre knows what it’s like to throw the harness over a Group 1 winner.
“I was only 19 when I got Spike who went on to win the Clive Uhr Championship in Queensland, but there is more money in farming than horses so I didn’t have a licence for about 30 years,” he said.
McIntyre admits a level of frustration led him to secure Captain Pins from New Zealand two years ago.
“I had about 20 attempts trying to beat Emma Stewart horses with Dot The Eye and I told a mate of mine in New Zealand that I wanted a horse that could get it done,” he said.
Captain Pins won his first two starts in Australia before developing a penchant for racing fiercely when restrained at the start.
“He became a lunatic when we went back at the start with him, so we stopped and reset a couple of times,” he said.
“He was horrendous at the trials and I lost him completely, so we reset again.”
McIntyre revealed he found the solution to Captain Pins after reading a book.
“I read a book on the horse trainer Joseph O’Brien and he used a certain bit on pullers, so I changed to that bit and it works well,” he said.
McIntyre only has two horses in work, with Captain Pins’ stablemate Puzzle Piece notching up his fifth career win at Stawell last Thursday.
“There’s only me and they get worked separately, so I rely on a heart rate monitor to make sure they work at a certain rate,” he said.
Captain Pins will line up in the Happy 100th Trevor Craddock Pace (1720m) from outside the back row in barrier 11. The race is set to go at 8.58pm.
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TUNE IN at MELTON on Saturday
First Race: 5.34pm Last Race: 9.28pm
Racecaller: Dan Mielicki with Rob Auber and Steve Cleave on TrotsVision.
TrotsVision: WATCH LIVE
SEN Track: LISTEN LIVE
RSN 927: LISTEN LIVE
Winner of the Week
EXCEPTIONAL ARMA, by American Ideal out of Arma Express, at Gloucester Park on September 15.
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