Three-year-old Tokamak will be out to confirm the unpredictable nature of training racehorses when he brings an unbeaten record to the city at Warwick Farm on Wednesday.
Part-owned by a doctor who helped Tamworth trainer Barry Lockwood recover from a serious illness, Tokamak will be chasing his fourth win in the Chauvel Park Handicap (1200m).
Lockwood first met Dr Bernie Hudson when he was a patient in Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital but it wasn’t until more than a decade passed that they teamed up with Tokamak.
“Dr Hudson did all the pathology when I was in hospital,” Lockwood said.
“I didn’t hear from him for about 13 years until he rang up one day and asked if I was still alive.
“He wanted to know if I would train a horse for him and it turned out to be Tokamak.
“It’s a hard way to get business.”
Tokamak is by Diogenes, a son of Marscay owned by Dr Hudson who stands for a modest $2200 service fee in central western NSW.
The gelding has won at Inverell, Coonamble and first-up at Gunnedah to convince Lockwood he is worth a shot at a deeper form race.
“He’s done all he can do in the country as a three-year-old so he deserves his chance in a race for non-metropolitan winners,” the former Rosehill-based trainer said.
A Warwick Farm win promises to be ample compensation for missing out on Wednesday’s Grafton Guineas.
“I was getting him ready for Grafton but he missed out on a run at Muswellbrook at the start of his campaign so it put us behind,” Lockwood said.
Lockwood, who enjoyed success in the early 1990s with stakeswinning filly Rock Review, describes Tokamak as an on-pace runner.
“It’s a shame about the draw (gate 11) but I’m confident he’ll run well,” he said.
Ric McMahon, the Queensland jockey in Sydney after an SOS from Warwick Farm Clarry Conners, has picked up the Tokamak mount.
“I don’t know a lot about Ric but (Brisbane trainer) Brian Smith who is a good friend had a good word to say about him,” Lockwood said.
AAP TURF
