On his new home track.
In less than two minutes Think Music, ridden by Chelsea Hall, had justified Selman’s years of hopeful thinking, careful planning and taking the financial plunge to be a horse trainer.
His career can still be counted in weeks; but he doesn’t care – he’s got his first winner and it all sounded like music to his ears as the congratulations rolled in.
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And he did it with a horse that started out in the industry as a $100,000 yearling and arrived paid for at his door for $4000.
“I bought her through an online auction, I really have breeding as a long term aim for her,” Selman said after his win.
He could probably afford some of the most prestigious sires in the country if he had backed his horse with the same enthusiasm with which he races her – Think Music was sent out at 90/1 and paid $78.40 for the win.
Even place punters cleaned up – that was a $12.30 return.
“The win, the moment she crossed the line, the whole thing was just so uplifting,” Selman said.
“I only got my licence in August and I have come up from the Mornington Peninsula to Violet Town, where I have found a nice little property, which is almost converted into my stables, the yards are done and there is just some rubber to go down and the stables will be completed.”
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Now they are winning stables, Selman is facing a new problem – whereto now with Think Music?
“I was pretty confident she would do well, this horse really pings the gates and I told Chelsea with this draw she needn’t worry about finding the rail, the mare’s gate speed would get her there pretty quickly,” he said.
“At her previous start at Tumut she has been caught five and six wide for the whole 1400m from a bad draw, but the plan this time was to get her out in front and let her stride along.
“And the race went perfectly to plan.”
It certainly did – Hall was simply along for the ride because she didn’t have to make a single move until they turned into the straight.
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At the 300m mark she though the field was coming so she gave Think Music a couple of taps on the shoulder and the horse stepped into another gear and just pulled away from the chasers to win by more than two lengths without ever breaking into a sweat.
Racing is in Selman’s blood; his grandfather was a trainer who gave his young grandson his introduction to Thoroughbreds and the dream began.
Today he has a small team of yearlings coming through and he bought a couple of others to cover the gap while the youngsters go through their development.
“I am going to review her run again this week, check her times, see how she has pulled up and how she eats – although I doubt that will ever be a problem, she licks up every skerrick in her feed bin,” he said.
“I would like to think we could look at something for her at Caulfield or the Valley in the next couple of weeks and get her to run a good honest race and then tip her out for a while.”
No matter how she goes at her next start, Selman will never forget her run on January 3, 2021.
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