With his days as a barrier rogue seemingly behind him and a maiden victory under the belt, the Spreyton-trained Mywordis looks set to deliver on his early promise.
The 3-year-old gelding by Wordsmith produced not only a first victory at Launceston on Wednesday, but also a $20,000 TASBRED bonus for his connections headed by his breeder Stephen Tyson, who owns the horse in partnership with his wife Lyn and Ian and Trish Barwick.
Mywordis has proven a bit of a handful for his trainer Liandra Gray, who has been 'terrific' with the horse according to Tyson. "We've had a few problems with him, mainly on the barrier side of things," he said. "He was fine going into the barriers, but if he stands there any period of time, he gets wound up. "We've had a bit of a go with him and Liandra has done a hell of a good job with the horse. He worked it out that he's not just there to play up."
Mywordis has now been placed twice and won once in four starts, with his only poor performance when he had ear muffs applied in a race earlier this month at Launceston. Sharpened up by their removal on Wednesday, he swept home over his rivals under jockey Ismail Toker to win by two-and-a-quarter lengths running away. "I think he’ll go on with it now," Tyson predicted. "He's a nice big strong horse, so let's keep our fingers crossed."
The $20,000 TASBRED bonus on top of the $11,875 prizemoney for first is a considerable fillip for the connections, with Tyson, who has been breeding horses for around 25 years, saying it was a great incentive to continue to invest in Tassie-bred horses. "You have to keep people involved in the industry and this gives people a bit of incentive to get the foal," he said.
Tyson has three broodmares on his farm at Hagley, about 20kms west of Launceston and races most of the horses he breeds. He purchased Mywordis' dam, Liberty Reign, out of Victoria back in 2009 and she won a couple of races before a virus ended her career on the track.
"I decided to breed out of her and he's the fourth foal. The first one was by Savoire Vivre, Savrajette, she was alright, won four races and unfortunately we lost the other two," Tyson said.
"Wordsmith was a bit of a thing at the time, so I sent her to him and that's where he came from. He has always showed a bit and he was always quite a nice yearling."
Liberty Reign has an Alpine Eagle yearling filly and visited Grenville Stud's Mawingo last season.
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