The lightly-tried Through The Cracks continues to repay Davies’ kindness and patience and on Saturday will step out for the sternest test of his career when he runs in the G3 Fujitsu General Festival S.
The gelding has won seven of his 15 starts, including last season’s Provincial Championship at Randwick, and booked his spot in Saturday’s feature event with a most recent success at Newcastle.
“He is very quirky, but a very nice horse. He refuses to work on his own on the track and have to send him out with a mate,” the Goulburn-based Davies said.
“It doesn’t matter what you do he needs a friend. He is a funny bloke and if you don’t cuddle him he starts rearing up. He’s probably been spoiled to be honest, but he’s worth spoiling that’s for sure.”
“He’s probably been spoiled to be honest, but he’s worth spoiling that’s for sure.” – Angela Davies
Through The Cracks has proved to be a wonderful money-spinner with earnings of more than $530,000 after he was purchased for just $7500.
He was bred by Bell River Thoroughbreds and sold at the Inglis Scone Yearling Sale to Michael Hohos, who remains in the ownership group.
The gelding is out of More Than Acracker (More Than Ready {USA}) and all three of her foals to race have been multiple winners.
“Michael has been a client and a friend for a long time and I’ve won a lot of races with his homebreds as well. I selected this horse and Michael purchased him and we thought we’d throw him out there as a cheap one,” Davies said.
“We sold 10 per cent shares for $750 and he was all sold within an hour of driving out of the Sale yard. Michael is from Sydney and been in racing for many years and given me a lot of opportunities.”
Through The Cracks winning at Newcastle
Patient handling
Through The Cracks was never going to be an early runner and has needed to be brought along quietly.
“He was a late foal to start with and just a late-maturing horse and didn’t strengthen up. Every time we put any pressure on him he stopped eating and wasn’t doing well so I kept putting him out and give him a few more months,” Davies said.
“It took a lot longer than we anticipated, but we had to give him the time he needed to mature.”
Through The Cracks is now repaying his connections for their tolerance and will chase a Group victory on Saturday.
“He’s just been super, this year in particular. We didn’t target this race, but it’s interesting how things have fallen into place,” Davies said.
“We didn’t target this race, but it’s interesting how things have fallen into place.” - Angela Davies
“We always wanted to stretch him out in distance this preparation. His two runs back have been over 1200 and 1300 metres and we tried to sneak him in to The Hunter but failed, but he did win on that day.
“We thought if he had failed there was a perfect race for him next week, as it turned out he won, so we thought we’d have a go at this.
“It is a big step up no doubt and we’re just going there to enjoy the day and enjoy being in a good race. A lot of people who have been in horses all their lives and have never had one entered in a Group race.
“It’s a hard thing to achieve, especially with a cheapie horse, so we’ll see what happens and he doesn’t owe us anything.”
