SADNESS OVERSHADOWS SUCCESSFUL DAY FOR LOGANS
It was an extremely tough day for Ruakaka trainers Donna and Dean Logan yesterday, even though they had two winners on their local programme.
What promised to be an entertaining day, with the inaugural Ruakaka Racing Awards being part of the raceday action and some strong stable representation, started off in a state of shock for the Logans and the local community with the sudden death of Graeme Finlayson.
A local dairy farmer, Finlayson (62) was heavily involved in the community, being a past committee-member of the Whangarei Racing Club, president of the local golf club, chairman of the Ruakaka Ratepayers Association, as well as a member of several other boards, including the Regional Development Association.
Finlayson was also Dean Logan’s best friend and he raced several horses from the Logan stable with the best being The Mighty Finn, who included the 1999 Counties Cup among his six New Zealand wins and he later won a couple of races in Singapore.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” said Logan. “We have property together and buy cattle together and I was only out at his place yesterday (Friday) discussing matters. I was telling him he better get along to the races for a good day out.
“He was walking out of his garage on his way to the cowshed when he dropped dead. It was so sudden. His death has hit the whole community because he was involved in everything.”
But Logan knew he still had duties to perform yesterday, not only as a co-trainer but also as president of the Whangarei Racing Club.
As a mark of respect to Finlayson, all the jockeys on Logan runners on the day wore black armbands and those armbands were to the fore right from the start of the programme when King Zeus won the Habibi Sold By Phill Catalado Bloodstock 2100 in the hands of Mark Hills.
King Zeus holds a nomination for the Gr.1 Turk’s Bar Spring Classic at Hastings on October 5, but the Logans aren’t keen on pressing ahead for the weight-for-age feature.
“It’s still a year too soon for him,” said Donna Logan. “He can have a couple of weeks off then aim towards the Counties Cup. He’s a very good horse and we could look at the weight-for-age races for him next year if he gets weighted out of handicaps.”
King Zeus had an intense battle with Natsinga over the final stages yesterday before being given the judge’s call by a nose. The win took his record to five wins and five placings from 16 starts.
Three races later Mosquito, also ridden by Hills, won the JLT Bloodstock 1600 for the Logan stable to take his record to three wins and three placings from 10 starts.
“He’s our Auckland Cup horse,” said Donna Logan. “He’s a half-sister to Tin Goose, who ran third in the Auckland Cup, and he’s bigger and got a better turn of foot than her. “
As expected, the Logan stable was also to the fore in the Ruakaka awards with a host of prizes going their way, topped by Donna Logan being named the Personality Of The Year.
“The awards day went off well, but it’s hard to absorb it all with Graeme’s death, “she said. “Graeme loved his racing and we’ve got a really smart young one coming up for him. Only the other day I told him he better get down to the track to see the best horse he’s had since The Mighty Finn.”
Ref: http://www.theinformant.co.nz/racing/archive/2013/09/IQ16611/Sadness-overshadows-successful-day-for-Logans