Tutankhamun delivered an emotional win for trainer Rhys Archard at the first Echuca Racing Club meeting since the passing of his father and respected country racing figure, Daryl, last month.
Jockey Rhys McLeod guided the four-year-old to its second career win and first since November last year in Saturday’s final race of the day, streaking away to win by two lengths over 1400 metres.
Archard said the “terrific” result came as a pleasant surprise in the first-up run.
“It clearly meant a bit more than I thought it would,” Archard said.
“We thought he would run well, but we weren’t expecting him to win like he did.
“Everything in his trials we were pleased with. We thought he’d be better suited at 2000m, but he was able to win well.
“He’ll probably have a run or two at 1600 then 2000 fourth up; that seems to be his pet distance.
“We’ll try to find a race for him in the next two weeks and then go again. Nothing’s set in stone.”
Archard nearly had a fairytale win in the Vale Daryl Archard 1955-2023 Maiden, with Daryl’s former runner Qubella placing second.
“I would have really liked to have won the race named in his honour,” Archard said.
“But it was a really nice day; I know it meant a lot to Mum and the family in general that we were able to get a nice result, especially on that meeting.
“To finish second was a huge run.”
The support has come from far and wide in the racing industry since Daryl’s passing, a fact Rhys was appreciative of.
“The owners of Qubella are the Gunbower Racing Club Committee; they’ve been lovely,” he said.
“It’s not just on race day; we’ve had great support from everyone in the industry. It’s a marvellous industry that rallies around their own when something like this happens.
“Since he passed, the support has been terrific, and it’s quite nice to know how respected the old man was.”
A decorated former footballer, Archard’s racing career has yielded 43 wins since his first runner in 2016.
“I was brought up around horses, and he never pushed me into it or anything like that,” he said.
“Ever since I came back from Adelaide, I’ve been working alongside him most of the time.
“We clashed plenty of times, but looking back now to realise he’s not going to be there will take getting used to.
“But we’ve got good people around us, and we’ll take it one day at a time.”