Atta boy Tommy! Deb’s pride and joy bags his fifth win - thanks to a Magic Man special

Owner Debbie Green was smiling even before the judge confirmed My Copy a winner at Auckland on Friday night.

She was positively beaming when she heard the head margin and jumped the fence to lead in her precious Tommy.

And she was still on a high when she accompanied driver Maurice McKendry back to the stables and heard how the rising five-year-old dug deep for his fifth win.

The moment Debbie Green heard My Copy had won.“I thought he’d been beaten again,” said Green, whose black beauty has run up eight seconds and seems to delight in keeping everyone guessing with close finishes. Green knows Tommy will never win by a big space or be spectacular like his headlining younger half brother Copy That - he just sticks his neck out and does his best.

Green likes how 16.2 hand Tommy is getting stronger all the time - and fatter.

“Look at how fat he is, that’s how I like them.”

It seems like not so long ago that the staff out at Lincoln Farms used to make fun of the big, dorky horse who was so weak and clumsy he’d knuckle over all the time.

Tommy is now such a specimen Green says he’ll always have a good home.

“He’ll be a great show pony when he’s finished. But he should be able to race for another three or four years.”

Green enjoys the winner’s walk back to the stables.That will give Green the chance to win the bet she had with the stable’s top driver Zachary Butcher that Tommy would be the one to make Highview Tommy as a stallion.

Already, after only 39 starts he is the second highest stake earner in the country by the former Woodlands Stud sire. His $66,244 bankroll is second only to southern veteran Refine whose eight wins have earned him $74,752. Now eight, Refine has slipped to rating 35 and shows his best in low grade amateur races.

But Tommy has a way to go before he eclipses the best Australian progeny of Highview Tommy, who now stands at Mal Diebert’s Yanko Lodge in New South Wales.

The top four Aussies by the former $1 million winner are Tasmanian Kuzma (15 wins, A$136,717), Benji (12 wins, A$96,165), Most Triumphant (5 wins, A$76,913) and Tiger Tommy (12 wins, A$75,645).

Green’s trainer husband Ray, who describes Tommy as a nice, easy to do horse, believes he’ll end up winning $100,000 at least.

“He’s so honest, he’ll just keep ticking away. Anybody would love to own him. Sure, it will be a bit tougher when he goes up a grade but he always goes a good race.

“Maurice knows him so well now and has given him a super drive tonight and that always helps.”

My Copy powers up the markers to nab Sunshine Shelby on the post.‘Magic Man’ McKendry, now with 3389 winners on his CV (second only to Tony Herlihy’s 3664) got the horse out well from the gate but looked to be in a perilous position down the back straight when fourth on the markers.

But he eased into the running line, in anticipation of getting cover, and ended up with a perfect one-one sit for most of the race.

“It worked out well. They ran along a bit early - the lead time was a good 41.1 - and he didn’t hang like last week.”

My Copy had to run closing sectionals of only 58.4 and 29.5 to win, McKendry cleverly cutting back to the marker line in the run home to grab the pacemaking Sunshine Shelby in a 1:57.8 mile rate for the 2200 metres.

“He’s a handy horse.”

Debbie Green already knows that - she could find a few better superlatives for him - and says she’ll always be grateful to hubby Ray for not selling the furry peanut she originally bought for $3000 as a weanling.

“He was under offer and I didn’t want to answer the phone.”

In the end a vet check found Tommy needed surgery to remove a bone chip from his fetlock, and when the buyer wanted an appropriate discount, Ray said no and they kept him.