Copy That: From $7500 weanling to best 3yo - with a lot of expletives along the way!

“Not bad for a $7500 horse, eh?”

Trainer Ray Green’s succinct description of Copy That’s dominant performance to win tonight’s Northern Stakes at Auckland encapsulated the remarkable rise of what he now believes “could be the best three-year-old in the country.”

Reeling off final sectionals of 55.1 and 26.6, and clocking a swift 2:39.2 for the 2200 metres, Copy That left the All Stars’ Flying Even Bettor and One Change in his wake, driver David Butcher not even needing to pull the plugs.

“All I did was show him the stick a couple of times and he was off,” said Butcher. “He’s really in the zone.”

Ray Green … pulled a masterstroke fitting a single spreader to Copy That. PHOTO: Trish Dunell.Green pulled a masterstroke when he fitted a single spreader to Copy That tonight, helping the horse round the Alexandra Park bends that have tripped him in the past.

“I’m relieved more than anything,” said Green who was dreading what might happen with the three-year-old drawn the inside of the second row.

“I didn’t expect the race to pan out like that. I thought there’d be more competition for the lead.”

But after Butcher sprung out of third place to take up the front down the back straight, he had no challengers, able to dictate the tempo throughout.

And when Copy That cleared out down the home straight for a one and a quarter length win, Green’s wife Debbie admits she felt like crying.

But rather than lamenting over having sold the horse to leading Australian owner Merv Butterworth earlier in the year, Debbie Green explained it was “a happy cry” born of the pride that she and Ray had taken the horse from a persistent badly behaved juvenile to potentially the best second season pacer in the land.

Copy That was far from the made article when they agreed to sell him in June.

For months he’d tested Ray Green’s patience, his sometimes brilliant training runs punctuated by inexplicable gallops and a number of Houdini like escapes from his halter, which saw him career off down the Lincoln Farms’ pathways.

“Even tonight Ray called him all the names under the sun when he was gearing him up because he refused to keep his head still.”

Debbie Green attends to Copy That after his cruisy win tonight.While Copy That is now probably worth three times what they got for him, it’s not about the money, says Debbie who bought the American Ideal pacer for just $7500 as a weanling.

“As far as I’m concerned he’s still mine. And I’ll always be proud of him.”

Ray Green admits when he watches Copy That now he’s always thinking ‘should we have sold him?’

“But how many times have you heard that someone has turned down big money for their horse and ended up giving it away after something’s gone wrong? It’s happened to me and a lot of others.

“The old expression a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush is so true. And the money we got made a huge difference to our lifestyle. It almost killed our mortgage.

“We have to sell when these offers come along and we have other horses in the wings so hopefully we can pull it off again.”

They did it with Hard Copy, whom Debbie Green bought for $4500 and sold to Australia where he won 27 races and A$1.27 million.

Copy That’s half brother by Highview Tommy out of Lively Nights, could be Deb Green’s next bargain buy at just $3000.And who’s to say a little dark brown colt in the Greens’ paddock won’t be the next to return a huge profit.

The half brother to Copy That, by Highview Tommy, was bought as a weanling by Debbie Green in May for just $3000.

Green says the way Copy That treated his rivals with “contempt” tonight might silence the doubters who thought his near miss in the Sires’ Stakes Final at Addington was a fluke.

“And if he can run a 26.6 quarter on his ear, how fast will he go when he really gets strong?

“I’m very happy to be still training the horse but we’ve still got to win a big one. It would be nice to get one of the derbies and after that run tonight he could just be the best three-year-old in New Zealand.

“And the only one I think could match him in Australia is Be Happy Mach (winner of 10 of his 11 starts).”

While not yet ready to declare Copy That the outright best, Butcher diplomatically says the Lincoln Farms’ pair of Copy That and Line Up are as good as anything the All Stars’ Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen have produced.

“I think a lot of the big races will come down to draws and runs.”

With next week’s Alabar Stakes worth twice as much as tonight’s $25,000 purse, Butcher says you might also see a few more aggressive drives.

Non event for Line Up

Anthony Butt, who drove ninth-placed Line Up, said the race was a virtual non event, after he was forced to go back to the rear from the outside of the gate.

“And I had no option really but to stay where I was. I didn’t want to go mid-race.

“But he was good. He went to the line well and it took me all the way down the back to pull him up.”

Line Up clocked 2:40.6 for the trip and had no chance to make up the leeway when the leaders sprinted.

Rookie Hampton Banner delighted Green with his sixth placing, just 5.5 lengths from Copy That.

Trapped deep on the markers he found the line strongly, impressing driver Andre Poutama in his first time against the big guns.