Sean Tarry is flying high

Frank Sinatra had a huge hit in 1966 with a song called “That’s Life!”

It deals with the ups and downs of life and starts its opening verse reads: “That’s life, That’s what all the people say, You’re riding high in April, shot down in May, But I know I’m gonna change that tune, When I’m back on top, back on top in June.”

Sean Tarry is a man who fully understands the highs and lows of being a horse racing trainer. He’s been named South African Champion trainer five times, a pinnacle in the life of any trainer, but experienced the low of losing his leading owner who was an invaluable mentor in his life.

But despite the roller coaster ride, Tarry has always known when it is time to press that rest button and start all over again.

Right now, Tarry is supported by a strong team and also has the pleasure of witnessing his older son, Daniel, following in his footsteps and becoming integrated in his organisation.

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On Champions Day two weeks ago, Tarry reached another milestone when Thunderstruck won the Grade 1 Jonsson Workwear Computaform Sprint as that gave Tarry his 300th Stakes winner and his 73rd Grade 1 success.

But Tarry knows Graded-race success is the yardstick of achievements, racing is also about winning maiden plates and other lower-level races.

So, it’s back to mundane racing at Turffontein on Saturday when they race on the Inside track, and the stable has further opportunities to come away with a couple of winners.

One of Tarry’s strengths is the ability to know when patience is needed. One would imagine it is not always that easy to talk owners into that way of thinking but as late trainer Roy Unsworth was well known for saying, the “softly, softly approach” often produces the best outcomes.

Tarry has used that approach in many cases when he has received horses from other trainers and that looks to be the case with Champion Warrior, who lines up in Race 7, a MR 96 Handicap over 1450m. This son of Twice Over attracted a lot of attention when winning his first two starts in the Western Cape but then just appeared to lose the plot.

He was transferred up to the Highveld late last year and joined Tarry’s yard in December. The four-year-olds first run did not work out too well as he was bumped at the start and never got into the race.

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His second run came up in February and resulted in huge improvement with Champion Warrior racing over 1160m at Turffontein. He produced the fastest 400m to finish to end up in second spot, 0.90 lengths behind stable companion Mid Winter Wind.

Many punters did not probably realise at the time just how good that run was. Since then, Mid Winter Wind has gone on to win two more races, including the Grade 3 Byerley Turk at Hollywoodbets Greyville.

Champion Warrior has since had one more race, and that was over 1600m on the Inside track. Once again, he did not have luck on his side as he stumbled at the start and hung in and was narrowly beaten 0.20 lengths by Warhawk Bomber. This will be the fourth run for the stable and appears to be perfectly aligned for Champion Warrior to notch up a third career win.

He ran well on the course last time, looks ideally suited to the distance, has just 54kg on his back, is drawn No 2 and has S’manga Khumalo in the irons.

As long as he has fortune on his side, Tarry once again looks to have created the perfect groundwork to put Champion Warrior back on a winning trajectory.