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By Greg Prichard

Welcome Back finally broke through for her first win at what was the five-year-old mare’s 45th career start at Taree races on Sunday and while the official starting-price odds of $101 were already huge her trainer Tom Higgins managed to get even better!

“I got 150-1 fixed odds on the Tote,” Higgins said. “I only had $5 each-way, I’m not a big punter.

"The result I was really looking for was with the quinella, but I just missed out on that.”

Higgins, who prepares a small team at Port Macquarie, had two runners in the Merry Christmas From MVRC Maiden Plate over 1308m - Welcome Back and six-year-old mare Magic Shannon.

Welcome Back (Camille Houlgatte) heads to the barriers at Newcastle. Image by Bradley Photographers

The official betting fluctuations for Welcome Back were an opening quote of $81, then $61, $91 and finally $101, so Higgins did well to snaffle a bit of $151. Magic Shannon was an $8 chance.

Welcome Back settled midfield and Magic Shannon wasn’t far behind it and when they began to make their runs Welcome Back was able to find a way through the centre of the field while Magic Shannon was forced wide.

It was a blanket finish as Welcome Back, well ridden by 3kg-claiming apprentice jockey Lauren Van Tijn, narrowly edged out second placegetter Not My Problem, with Magic Shannon close-up in third.

“I liked the chances of both my horses,” Higgins said. “I thought they were both capable of winning, but one was paying huge odds and the other one was $8 so I took the big odds each-way and had the pair of them in a quinella for $10.

“The horses don’t know what price they are. I’ve got quinellas in the past that have paid plenty. One paid $810 and then you’ve got it 10 times and that’s $8100.

"Another for $6500 total and one for $11,000. I reckon if Magic Shannon had made it into the quinella that one would’ve paid somewhere from $800 to $1000 as well.

“We’re frugal, that’s the way we work. I don’t punt much on them. Now and then I might have a bigger bet if I really like one of mine, but the prizemoney’s so good these days you don’t have to.”

Higgins is the partner of fellow Port Macquarie trainer Annette Lee and they train out of the same stable complex. The pair are also the owners of Welcome Back and Higgins is the third trainer the horse has had.

He explained you had to take into account the fact Welcome Back is not a big horse when you assess her form.

“We picked her up pretty cheaply and she’s the gutsiest, most honest little mare ever, but she’s got to get something to go her way when she races,” he said.

“When they’re tiny like her they’ve only got to get a bit of a bump and they’re out of the race.

“If you look at her previous run, at Kempsey, another horse came straight out under her neck in the run and she dropped right out of it. I thought she could win that day as well.

“But she’d run eight placings and picked up $55,000 in prizemoney before finally winning. How many horses have won $55,000 before winning their maiden?

“You can’t back them with absolute confidence when they’re small and can get knocked about in a race, but you can know they’re capable if they get the right run.

“I had one called Sky Biscuit that took 15 races to win its maiden and it ended up winning 14 races, so hopefully Welcome Back can win a few more now she’s broken through.”

Incredibly, Sunday’s race was the 30th of Welcome Back’s current campaign! It began with a race at Newcastle in late February. But, as Higgins explained, his training set-up enables him to provide his horses with a laidback existence between runs.

“I’ve got two of the best paddocks in the area,” he said. “One is directly off the end of my stable and the other one is immediately beyond that.

“If you work a horse in the morning, take it back, put it in its box and let it have its breakfast and then open the door and let it out into the paddock for a couple of hours it’ll come back and tap on the door when it’s ready to go back in.

“Do you think they need spelling? They’re getting spelled every day and that’s all they need, to get out in the paddock and have a stretch and a pick of grass. That’s all they do when they go for a spell anyway.

“You don’t spell horses that are going as well as Welcome Back’s going at the moment. I’ll find another race for her. The secret is getting them right, getting them competitive and then trying to pick off the weaker races.

“And if you own them as well as train them, which Annette and I do with a lot of ours, then you get nearly all of the prizemoney.

“You’ve got no-one else to pay the feed bill, but when you’re collecting most of the prizemoney and the horses are going well you can afford that.”

View the full results with race replays for Taree here