HIGHLY LIKELY stuns Punters winning at Te Rapa at $24

FORTUNA’s 5yo Gelding HIGHLY LIKELY caused a boil over at Te Rapa today, staging a form reversal when winning the Rating 65 2100 metre event. Drawn the outside barrier, instructions to rider Cameron Lammas were very clear; “go to the front and lead” were the orders from Te Akau Co-Trainer Stephen Autridge. Lammas executed the race plan perfectly getting HIGHLY LIKELY to the lead and then setting a steady pace throughout the run; however as they turned, the horse did seem under a bit of pressure and was clearly headed, but then the penny seemed to drop and HIGHLY LIKELY found another gear and kicked away in the run home to win easing down by two lengths. Click HERE to see the video replay

FORTUNA DIRECTOR, John Galvin, was not overly surprised by the outcome; “There is an old saying in racing that class is permanent, form is tempoarary and while the horse has been struggling this campaign, I was always sure the problem lay between his ears. The Training Team have done a great job with him in recent weeks varying his work, particularly with a lot of jumping, and to be fair, his last run at the Rapa was not all that bad. I was expecting a bolder race today and we got it,” he said.

Acquired by David Ellis on behalf of Fortuna at the 2011 NZ Bloodstock South Island Sale, HIGHLY LIKELY is raced by the Fortuna Highly Likely Syndicate, an ownership group of 24 people