G1 winning trainer makes successful return to NZ racing

Memories of a former high-class performer were revived when Peter Fitzgerald recently made a return to the winner’s circle.

The Otaki horseman celebrated his first success in three decades when Revo broke his maiden on the polytrack at Awapuni last Friday.

Fitzgerald enjoyed top-flight success in the early 1990s with the free-going chestnut Captain Cook, who won six races including the Group 1 International Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa where he beat Fun On The Run.

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He subsequently took a lengthy break from training before returning and now has Revo and multiple placegetter Just A Drop in work at Otaki.

“In the 1990s we found it too hard financially, so I tried something else and got paid by someone else,” Fitzgerald said.

“I worked in a few stables in Australia, including Gai Waterhouse, which was really interesting and I learned a lot.

“I never lost the interest and have always been a punter and followed the form and breeding.”

Fitzgerald also spent time outside of the industry when he moved into real estate.

“I became a house flipper and gave up the horses and didn’t want to go back into it until I could afford it,” he said.

“I got a property company going and made a bit of money, so I thought it was time to have a crack with the horses. I enjoy training them and the ones I’ve got have got issues, so I potter around with them.”

Fitzgerald has always been a follower of interval training, an approach he took with Captain Cook.  

“He was the second or third horse I trained and got away with the mistakes I made because he was so good,” he said.

Interval training involves the use of multiple workouts on the same day separated by short rest periods to challenge and condition the cardiovascular system.

“Theoretically, you’re encouraging the muscles and the mind of the horse to adapt to extra speed and it sends more blood and oxygen around the system and will become more efficient,” Fitzgerald said.

“You can improve heart and muscle performance by up to 15 percent, but the horse has to be very sound to undertake it.”

Under that training regime, Captain Cook also won the Listed Pegasus Stakes (1000m) as a three-year-old before he finished runner-up in the Group 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) and third in the Group 1 Levin Classic (1600m), both times behind Veandercross.

He also ran third in Rough Habit’s Group 1 Doomben Cup (2020m), ran second to Naturalism in the Group 2 Alister Clark Stakes (2040m), was runner-up in the Group 3 Tattersall’s Cup (2200m) and Group 3 Thames Valley Stakes (1600m) behind Surfer’s Paradise and third in the Listed Craven Plate (2000m).

“He still holds the New Zealand 2000m record and that suggests interval training does work, it was at weight-for-age (International Stakes), so it was no pretend race, and ran 1m.58.8s,” Fitzgerald said.

“These two horses I’ve got now, one of them is sound enough physically but not mentally and the other is sound enough mentally but not physically, so I haven’t used interval training yet.

“I would like to, but the horses aren’t in a position to do it yet. I certainly believe in it and it’s a great tool to condition horses.”