Patience key for Iggo

By Joshua Smith, Harness News Desk

Trotting enthusiast Phillip Iggo likes to take a patient approach with his square-gaiters, and that looks set to pay off with promising four-year-old Under And Over at Addington Raceway on Thursday.

The Andover Hall gelding will make his debut in the IRT. Your horse. Our Passion. Trot (2600m) and Iggo is hoping his trial and workout form will translate to raceday success.

Under And Over has yet to taste defeat in his four workouts and one trial, and Iggo is confident he can continue that picket fence form line on Thursday.

“He has been training well and trialling well and we expect a good performance from him,” Iggo said.

“He has been untroubled at the workouts and trials with that competition. The only thing one would be concerned about is stepping up to a field of 14 and how he will cope with that.

“But he has received a safe draw in the outside of the front line. He has always begun well, so I am expecting that will be a safe spot for him.”

Iggo, who co-bred and co-owns the gelding, likes to take his time with his horses and he believes that approach has been highly beneficial for Under And Over.

“I don’t have the enthusiasm to get horses going at two and three,” he said. “We tend to try and play the long game with our horses, hoping to get some longevity out of them.

“In saying that, he showed promise last year and gave the impression he was going to be better with another season on him, and that has proven to be the case.

“He is big and strong, and much more confident now than he was last year when we got him to the stage where he could have qualified.”

Iggo cited Queen Of Strathfield, runner-up in her last five outings, as the main threat on Thursday, however, he said if his charge has a faultless run he is the one to beat.

“Queen of Strathfield is certainly the form horse of the field, but if he doesn’t make a mistake I think he will be pretty hard to beat,” he said.

Iggo currently works two horses from his Flaxton barn and he said he is slowly scaling back both his breeding and racing operation.

“We have four mares in-foal this year and this is the last year we are breeding. We are just quietly easing out into retirement,” he said.

“We are at a stage where we want to pursue other interests. I enjoy golf and fishing and with horses every day you are involved and every day you are responsible for them and that is limiting on some other things that we would like to do.

“We still enjoy our time with the horses, but we feel it’s time to consider some other options as we get older.”

While Iggo is looking to scale back his involvement in the sport, he said he is still looking forward to a number of younger horses coming through his system, including the year younger brother to Under And Over.

“We have a three-year-old brother to Under And Over, but we will take exactly the same approach with him,” Iggo said.

“He is in the paddock now and we will look to bring him back and race as a four-year-old. He looks quite a nice horse as well.”