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Horse racing - Source: Photosport -
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Wanganui trainer Paul Belsham has his sights set on the $1 million purse on offer for the Karaka Million (1200m) at Ellerslie late next month with Cambridge Stud bargain basement buy My Cool Jo who dented plenty of reputations with a narrow win in the KPR Catering Juvenile at Trentham on the weekend.
Starting at lucrative odds of better than 11 to one, My Cool Jo showed that a price tag does not necessarily count for everything as she was bought for only $2500 at last year's Select Sale at Karaka from the powerful Cambridge Stud draft.
"She has to be one of the lowest price buys ever from Cambridge Stud at the yearling sales," Belsham said.
"Stephen (Gudsell, owner) told me he liked the look of her at the sales and I could see a lot of scope in her. It was because she was such a tall leggy type that put the other buyers off her," Belsham said.
"I thought she could struggle to make it as a two-year-old but she's proved me wrong," he said. "Right from the time she had her first serious gallop she's got better and better."
"Before she started racing we had the Karaka Million at the back of our minds but we knew she had to show something pretty quickly to justify going for it," said Belsham, who has 20 horses currently in training.
The One Cool Cat filly posted her first win in three starts to date in yesterday's 1000m event getting home by a short head from Reve De Victoire.
Belsham said My Cool Jo had little luck in her first two appearances. "She got squeezed out of it at a crucial stage in her first start and then drew off the track and got caught four wide in her second run. In both starts she finished just in behind them.
"I then gave her a chance to freshen up and she has come back twice as good," Belsham said.
Belsham said he will take My Cool Jo north for a start at Ellerslie over the New Year to give her a crucial look at the course before tackling the Karaka Million on January 31.
My Cool Jo was ridden for the first time on Sunday by experienced jockey Sam Spratt who posted her 31st win of the season.
