Batman conquers all on debut

By Michael Guerin

Invercargill trainer Jeremy Douglas has his partner to thank for his newest stable star Always Be Batman.

The two-year-old produced the perfect debut at Addington on Friday night, bursting past some far more hyped horses in the Airpark Canterbury Mobile Pace.

Not that Douglas was there to enjoy it up close and personal as he remained home to work the remainder of his 13 horse team.

“I sent him up to John Dunn to look after cause I couldn’t be away for that long,” explains the 52-year-old.

“Johnny does that same with a lot of their team that come down here, he might send them to me to look after but this is only the second horse I’ve sent up to him.”

The team effort around Always Be Batman goes further than that and right back to when Douglas purchased him for just $14,000 at the yearling sales.

“To be honest he wasn’t on my list to look at but my partner Megan Reidie had a horse whose stable name was Batman and this guy, at the time was called The Batman, so she wanted to go have a look at him.”

Reidie, who is an equine vet, and Douglas liked what they saw.

I really liked him but I thought he’d be a $30,000 horse but we got him and thrilled we did.”

Like many of the stock of Always B Miki, Always Be Batman has a deceptively long stride and instantly impressed both Douglas and much later then Dunn when he had his first steer behind him.

“When John drove him at the trials last week they went 56.1 for their last half and he thinks he could have gone a few seconds quicker.”

So far there have been no concrete offers for Always Be Batman but they are bound to come yet for now Douglas is concentrating on Oamaru and the Diamond Creek Stakes on September 15.

“He was actually going to come home after tonight’s race but I think Johnny wants to keep him up there for another run.”

Douglas used to train at Oamaru but has set up shop at Ascot Park, where he trains 13.

While Dunn gets the thanks and maybe a free beer for paying back Douglas with Friday night’s win, Team Dunn got something more tangible in the main pace, the Addington Cup week on sale Now! Handicap Pace, when Double Time led most of the way and clung on like another horse on his way to open class.

Fourth in the Maurice Holmes Vase last week he made the most of the three who beat him home last week not being there and like several of his four-year-old stablemates he seems to be stepping up with every campaign.

Others to catch the eye on Friday night were the trotters Habibti Pat, who remained unbeaten in the juvenile trot, Major Cyclone who won out of his grade as a maiden and Confessional, who bolted in later in the programme and looks to have his head screwed on right this campaign.