STARBOARD Blows Away Cobwebs After 496 Days Out to WIN at Hawkesbury

21 Feb 25

Richard and Will Freedman and Dynamic Syndications were back in the winner’s circle on Thursday at Hawkesbury with our 4yo gelding STARBOARD (Astern x Better Life) returning to the sport after a 71 week (496 days) absence.

Our horse lived up to his owners dreams when he came from the tail to round up and defeat his peers in race 5 the PIONEER SERVICES CG&E BENCHMARK Bm64 Hcp 1300m.

This was the first of a winning double on the day for Dynamic Syndications Owners as later we took out the $150,000 Provincial-Midway qualifier with RAPT.

STARBOARD was ridden by jockey TIM CLARK who steered our horse perfectly preserving as much fuel as possible after a break of 496 days to claim the win on the line.

Starting $3.20 equal favourite, topweight STARBOARD (59.5kgs) was presented looking a treat in the parade ring by his trainers Richard and Will and raced accordingly.

First-up off such a long lay-off was daunting enough, let alone the fact he is an athletic but heavy topped individual, whose fitness levels were always going to benefit from this run. Add in the fact that we had to go 1300m first-up rather than a preferred 1200m event because the racing calendar wasn’t helpful, was also a cause concerns.

Our pre-race tactic was to be where comfortable because being so fresh he may over race, but being aware that his fitness may tell late, be as conservative, preferably with cover if possible.

Tim Clark rode a perfect race.

As the gates crashed back, Tim grabbed hold of our horse to drag him back across in the smaller field of seven runners.

As Tim did that, STARBOARD fought for his head, as the horse was very fresh and excitable and wanting to get out and run. Tim and STARBOARD had a wrestling match over the first furlong with the wilful STARBOARD wanting his own way and Tim keeping him under control at the back of the pack, 8 lengths off the leaders as the field passed the 1100m marker.

Approaching the 800m the speed slackened, and our horse wanted to get up and running again, but Tim kept control as the field began its run down the side of the track.

Passing the 700m Tim had the other equal favourite Sumo Star underneath him on the fence and locked in a pocket, so was happy to remain at the tail, keeping his eye on the other favourite as the filed thundered up to the 600m.

Passing the 600m mark as the field began to swing towards the home straight, Tim out-rode the apprentice on Sumo Star. As it tried to push out off the fence, Tim held his ground keeping that horse behind a runner and still in a pocket as Tim and STARBOARD had clear running in front of them as the field turned into the straight but was still last 5 lengths off the leaders.

Passing the 400m the race was on, and Tim had angled STARBOARD to be the widest runner and still had Sumo Star in a pocket.

Sumo Star tried to push his way out and did so at the 300m and the race was on. Incredibly passing the 200m there were seven horses across the track and no more than a half length covering them all.

Tim kept STARBOARD balanced and under hands and heels was pushing our horse along before pressing the go-button at the 100m mark.

STARBOARD responded like a good horse does. Entitled to be waving the white flag after spotting the field a head start and the weight differential, but Tim had other ideas and drove STARBOARD hard as Sumo Star matched our strides with a big 3.5kg weight pull and fitness edge. Over the final 100m with the equal favourites eyeballing each other it was down to courage under fire.

Tim gained the upper hand over the final 20 metres and pushed our horse to the line each of his last 6 strides as the racecaller shouted photo. However, it appeared on the camera angles STARBOARD had won and they flashed up the photo finish print - STARBOARD had a clear margin.

STARBOARD (Richard & Will Freedman)(Tim Clark) bar7 59.5kg ($3.20EF) defeated Sumo Star (56.0kgs) ($3.20EF) by 0.07 length with Power Beau 0.95 length (59.0kg) ($6) in third. On a Good 4 the Time was 1:16.94 and Last 600m: 33.85.

JOB DONE!

It was an extremely courageous effort by the horse and more so, by his owners who kept the faith where weaker personalities may have thrown in the towel. Class rose to the top, and a wonderful team of owners were well rewarded. Sometimes a success like this can be more rewarding than a stakes win, such were the trials and tribulations STARBOARD has been through to return to the track.

A big shout out goes to Shane Rose at Bimbadeen Park for the attention to detail their team put into STARBOARD whilst he was away from the track.

Thanks goes to RICHARD and WILL FREEDMAN at Rosehill who showed remarkable horse husbandry and skill to have our horse capable of winning first up off such a long time away.

Also, no other jockey could have ridden STARBOARD better than Tim Clark whose ride won the race.

CONGRATULATION to the owners of STARBOARD: Dynamic Syndications Racing, Mr G J Cooper, Mr A S Taylor, Mr J Golebiowski, Mr S L Williams, Mr G S J England, Mr G Tew, Mr S Troughton, Mr D J Ricketts, Mr I Martin, Mr D N Helton, Mr M P Lockwood, Mr S R Freeman, Mr J R Carter

This win by STARBOARD took his career record to: Career Summary: 4-2:1:1    Prizemoney: $55,525

Min/Max-Dist-Win: 1200/1300   1st Up: 2:1-1-0    2nd Up: 1:1-0-0
Track: 1:1-0-0    Dist: 1:1-0-0       Firm: 0:0-0-0 Good: 4:2-1-1     Soft: 0:0-0-0     Heavy: 0:0-0-0

He won at Bathurst and was placed at Kembla and Newcastle in his first prep and has now returned with a tough win at Hawkesbury.

As his fitness increases city races will become available to his ownership team.

For his efforts he picked-up a first prize cheque of $20,550.

This win by STARBOARD was Dynamic Syndications 29th for the season and our 919th overall.

ONWARDS and UPWARDS – FOREVER FORWARD!