CHAMPKIN LANDS A ROUSING FIRST PROVINCIAL WIN

By Graham Potter | Friday, August 19, 2022

Have you ever heard the phrase … ‘ran them off their feet’?

Well, go and watch the video of the Tony And Maddysen Sears trained Terrius winning at Gatton on August 19 to see a precise example of what that phrase is all about.

The Colts, Geldings and Entires BM58 Handicap contest over 1400m was Terrius’s first run for the Sears stable (having been transferred by trainer John Shelton) and they entrusted the ride to the 3kg claiming apprentice Sariah Champkin … and what a ride it would prove to be!

The Sears camp are certainly no strangers to engineering an early win from a horse new to their stable, but the manner in which this success was achieved had a very different ring to the normal.

Terrius, the $2.90 favourite, landed midfield at the break, but Champkin wasted no time in setting off for the lead. Matthew Powell on Fitzroy Boy ($7) had similar intentions though and he got to the lead first and he was reluctant to give up that place when Terrius came alongside to challenged for the prime position.

Fitzroy Boy did match strides with Terrius for a good fifty to seventy-five metres going down the back stretch but, in the end, he had no option but to give way as Terrius and Champkin powered on, opening up a lead of four, then five, then six … then almost seven lengths, showing a tearaway turn of speed which left his rivals scrambling to stay in the same race with many of the chasing jockeys getting quite desperate in the saddle.

The best of that chasing pack, for obvious reasons, were able to start bringing Terrius’s leading margin down in the home straight and that chase led to a line of four horses spread across the track starting to snap at Terrius’ heels over the concluding stages, but Terrius and Champkin held strong and, with that, the results was never seriously in doubt as the Sears trained runner hit the line with 0.80 lengths to spare to claim a really stirring victory.

*And Champkin is worthy of a word of praise … not only for her winning ride here (her first Provincial winner) but also for notable progress she is making as a young apprentice.

The day after this win at Gatton, Champkin rode a double at Roma. If you think that was a good resut, try going back to Champkin's results at Roma on July 9 where she rode no less than four winners on the day, a feat a large number of jockeys never achieve in a lifetime of riding.

Good on her … and good on the Sears team for giving her the opportunity to put her name on the provincial scoreboard.

It was an all-around, rousing result.

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