It has taken patience and perseverance to get Super Strike back near his best, but the wait has been worthwhile with the horse finally breaking a two-and-a-half-year winning drought at Randwick.
Super Strike was sidelined after he suffered a hamstring injury following his Group 3 victory at Trentham in January 2021, his stint out extended when racing in New Zealand was shut down during the Covid pandemic.
During that period, Super Strike and his trainer Richard Collett relocated to Sydney but after so long off, the horse struggled for consistency at his initial Australian campaign.
“He had two years off, he hurt himself when he won a Group Three at Trentham in New Zealand,” Collett said.
“Then we went through the Covid lockdown and we couldn’t race horses, so we had to sit on our hands
“He came back in during the winter last year and it took us a long time to get him going.
“This is very satisfying to see him win, he’s a nice horse.”
Super Strike’s victory in Saturday’s Hitotsu New To Arrowfield Handicap (1800m) was a family affair with the gelding ridden by Collett’s jockey son Jason.
Biding his time in the second half of the field, Jason Collett eased Super Strike ($4.40 fav) around heels at the top of the straight and brought the gelding with a powerful run down the outside to nail leader Mach Schnell ($7.50) by a head.
First In Line ($21) made an encouraging return to finish another head away third.
Jason Collett was rapt to get a win on the board for his family and said every run counted for trainers with boutique teams.
“Always. It’s good to see them smiling,” Collett said.
“It’s a team effort and when you’ve got a small team, every horse counts.
“There were times in the first prep when he showed glimpses of this, but he just couldn’t be consistent, whereas this preparation it has just been a solid base and every run has been good.”
