WHEN Bathurst trainer Kevin Higgins took his experienced campaigner Tiger Bassie to Grenfell on Sunday to contest their Picnic Cup, he thought his seven-year-old might be short of a run.
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But over the final 50 metres, the seven-year-old stuck her nose in front to win a tight three-way battle for the honours in the $5,000 feature.
That late effort in the 1,400m contest showed that Tiger Bassie is working back towards her best.
Purchased from the Gold Coast last year, Tiger Bassie arrived at Higgins’ stables with plenty of racing under her belt.
She won him a race on her new home track at Tyers Park on July 1, but not long after that Higgins decided to give her a well-earned rest. She spent 29 weeks in the paddock.
“She had a fair bit of racing under her belt by the time I got her,” Higgins said.
“The long break was not because an injury or anything, she just needed that break.”
Tiger Bassie returned on March 14 with a seventh placing at Trangie then ran eighth at Wellington before heading to Grenfell for the 47th start of her career.
She started as a $6 chance in what looked to be a fairly open race and Higgins was delighted with how things played out.
“She jumped a lot better this time, she jumped with the leaders of the pack, then she got comfortable and settled four lengths behind the leader in fifth,” the trainer said.
“Into the bend she moved up to be one of the three leaders and in the end she just outstayed them.
“The three leaders duelled it out all the way up the straight, she just happened to stick her nose in front in the last 50 metres.
“I thought she may have needed another run as she’d only had the two starts, but she finished well.”
Higgins’ Tiger Hill x Ode To Bassie mare won by just under half a length from Financial Gain ($7) with Father ($6) a close third.
The way she finished was a good sign for Higgins, who is planning to race her over 1,700m at Binnaway in three weeks.
The trainer was also full of praise for Tiger Bassie’s jockey Dayne Bennett-Hillier, the hoop recommended to Higgins by his brother.
His Grenfell Picnic Cup success was his second win for the meeting, having got the job done on the Peter Stanley, Bathurst-trained Mulberry Moon ($2.60 favourite) in a 1,200m maiden earlier in the afternoon.
“He did an excellent job for me, that’s his first cup winner,” Higgins said.
“He won the jockeys’ championship for the day too, he had a couple of wins, a second and a third. He didn’t put a foot wrong all day that fellah. I’ll be using him again, that’s for sure.”