Flemington trainer Nick Ryan has praised his farrier John Bunting after Not To Be Mist scored a last stride win on his home track.
Not To Be Mist suffered a crack in one of his front hooves after running poorly in the “greys” race at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day.
That was all forgotten when Not To Be Mist got up in the final few bounds to claim the Furphy Festive Season Sprint (1200m) on Saturday.
Ridden by Rhys Mcleod, Not To Be Mist ($21) scored by a half-head from the $3.30 favourite It’sourtime with Ranting ($12) a further 2-½ lengths away third.
Ryan said he elected to race Not To Be Mist in pads on Saturday instead of conventional bar-shoes that would be used under similar circumstances.
“Just a quick shout out to my farrier, John Bunting, he’s done a good job with this horse,” Ryan said.
“We were very confident going into Cup Day and he went amiss there, but we got him right.
“We knew he was going good, and he just had to get his feet right. We changed his shoes, John put some pads on him, and we just niggled around with him, got him right.
“Aaron Mitchell has been doing a lot of work on him at trackwork and we were quite confident today.
“His jump out at Werribee was very, very good and it’s just good to get a result for some great connections.”
Besides the feet problems, Ryan said riding Not To Be Mist up on the speed on Cup Day proved the wrong tactic.
Given time to settle in Saturday’s 1200m sprint, Not To Be Mist produced a powerful finish to overhaul the favourite on the line.
“He’s best smothered up and out late and he likes a bit of room,” Ryan said.
“A few things were contributing factors on Cup Day and we got it right today, so we’ll just try and mirror that next time.”
