Goldie’s back - thanks to the countless hours Sonya spends with her old favourite

It’s not hard to tell which horse is trainer Sonya Smith’s favourite round her Menangle barn.

She calls him Goldie and every day she can be seen fussing over him, massaging his old legs, which she bandages twice a day.

Partner Anthony Butt always knows where to find Sonya, who treats the seven-year-old like a pet.

“She just loves him,’’ says Butt. “He’s such a kind old horse and she does everything to keep him sound. He gets his legs painted every day.’’

(Lets) Strike The Gold as he looked when trained in New Zealand by Ray Green.Punters know Goldie as Lets Strike The Gold but few who have watched his brave performances on the track would know that he has five screws in his legs, the legacy of injury which kept him off the track for 17 months in New Zealand between April, 2015 and September, 2016.

When he arrived in Australia in December, 2016 it was as a six-race winner and he quickly showed his toughness, winning three of his first eight starts, and running a mile at Menangle in 1:51.9.

Butt won’t be asking Goldie for anything like that when he finally picks up his career at Menangle on Saturday night - when Lincoln Farms and its partners Glenn ‘Grocer’ Cotterill, and his parents Don and Ann, will just be glad to see him back.

It’s been nearly nine months since the horse raced when he went sore after looking a certainty beaten when squeezed up in the straight in the Breeders’ Crown Free-for-all at Melton.

While it proved to be nothing major, bone scans showed hot spots round the screws in his legs and he was sent for a good spell.

Incredibly, it was the first decent break Goldie had had since arriving in Australia. When Smith and Butt got him to train early in 2018 he was going so well they raced him through to August, winning five races with him and taking his record to 15 wins, 15 placings and $177,000 in stakes.

Lets Strike The Gold stretching out with Lincoln Farms’ stablemate Make Way, obscured, at Menangle.“The break’s done him the world of good,’’ says Butt. “And he’s probably working as well as he ever has.’’

Smith and Butt have brought Goldie along quietly, with two trials at Menangle in April and, frustratingly, he’s been ready to go for the last three weeks.

“We’ve been entering him for easy races but they kept falling over.’’

And while Saturday’s race is tougher than they wanted, Goldie simply needs to go round.

Under the conditions of the race, which ranks horses on their earnings in their last five starts, Goldie has ended up in quite a strong line-up because he banked nearly $10,000 in his last three starts before being spelled.

“But floating up and down depending on your form is a good system and he’ll reach his right level in a couple of runs.’’

From a tricky gate six in the seventh race, Butt says he’ll be driving Goldie quietly.

But in a few weeks when the horse’s race fitness returns, Butt says he’s sure he can regain form.

“We’re confident he’s got a few runs in his legs yet even though he’s on a difficult mark.

“He’s such a tough horse. When he won his two metropolitan races at Melton he followed a hot pace but he’s a lovely all round horse and is pretty adaptable.’’

Lets Strike The Gold races at 10.22pm NZ time on Saturday night.