CONNECTIONS IN THE "DOUGH" WITH BARGAIN BUY

Image: Bradley Photos

SUNDAY: April 21, 2024: HAWKESBURY trainer Mick Attard and his octogenarian owner Bernie Young are in the “dough”.

Each celebrated their first city success together when bargain buy Putt For Dough also broke through in town at Royal Randwick yesterday.

It might have been a far cry from the $10m paid recently for the first foal of champion mare Winx, but at $5000 Putt For Dough has been a beauty for his connections.

Putt For Dough (Tom Sherry) ploughed through the heavy ground to land the opener, the Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (1400m), at $17.

Not only was it is a special day for Attard to be back in the city winning list – this time as a trainer – but also for 86-year-old Young.

He purchased the gelding online through bloodstockauction.com online in October 2022 after he had finished sixth of eight runners in a Tamworth Maiden (1000m) earlier in the month when on debut.

Young didn’t like the Winning Rupert gelding’s name (Vermeulen) and changed it. He says he remembers a golfer telling him many years back that he would “slog” (drive) for show and putt for dough, and liked that.

“Mick has done a fantastic job with Putt For Dough, and such a great result to win a race in town with him,” he said.

Attard has won four races with the now five-year-old; the Randwick victory boosting his earnings to just over $168,000.

A tidy return indeed on that $5000 outlay.

“I rode winners in town when I was apprenticed in Sydney back in the 1980s, but this is my first as a trainer,” a delighted Attard said.

“This horse is a handful and a half. He’s got ability of course, but is his own worst enemy.

“I spoke with his previous trainer Jacob Perrett and because he and his wife have a small team, they sold him as he was too hard to handle.”

Attard left home by 8am yesterday to beat busy traffic and get Putt For Dough to Randwick at least the required two hours before the 11.25am assignment.

“As he doesn’t like standing in the tie-up stalls, thankfully we didn’t have to put him in there for long as it was the first race,” he said.

“Having got my first city winner, now I would like to also win a race with him at our home track’s Saturday stand-alone meeting on Saturday week.

“There’s another Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap over 1500m.”

Putt For Dough has been racing consistentlyu

Putt For Dough was both Attard and Hawkesbury’s first winner of the season at Kembla Grange on August 5 last year, and Crossfire Road gave her trainer another when she scored at Muswellbrook six days later.

It’s been a dry spell since until Randwick yesterday, but Attard and his wife Sharon are now settled in a new place with five acres between North Richmond and Freeman’s Reach (about 15 minutes to the track on a good day), keeping 10-12 horses in work.