FINISHING second has never felt sweeter for Wagga trainer Scott Spackman, who qualified Yet Tobe Convinced for the $300,000 Country Championship final next month.
Spackman was overcome with emotion after watching the five-year-old mare finish second to Loved Up in the $100,000 SDRA Country Championship Qualifier at Murrumbidgee Turf Club on Sunday.
The roll of the dice to set Yet Tobe Convinced for the race paid off as she run past all but one runner to book her place in the lucrative final.
In order to meet the strict conditions of the race Spackman had to give the mare a freshen up and come into the race first up after finishing fourth in the Ted Ryder Cup in December.
It was a risk but the result had Spackman lost for words.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said.
“She’s first up from a spell and for her to run a race like that is unbelievable.”
The second placing made the Spackman’s decision to hold off for the race more than worthwhile.
“There is $20,000 that has bounced into the owner’s account,” Spackman said.
“How good is that?”
Sydney jockey Kathy O’Hara linked with the mare for the race and traveled to Wagga for the ride.
Spackman is expecting the mare to have plenty of improvement before the final on April 4.
