Pump It's not ready for retirement just yet

By Alex Nolan

This time two years ago Pump It was in the middle of a seven win streak that included the Group 2 Bogie Leigh Futurity at Albion Park.

Coming on season shortly after and sustaining multiple setbacks since, in more recent times, trainer Mark Saal was preparing his 18-time winning daughter of Collision for life after racing.

A fortnight ago, Saal was unsure whether Pump It would return to the track after a poor first-up performance at Capalaba on October 26, her first start in eight months.

Saal said failure to appear in last week’s QGold Veterans heats would have signalled the end of Pump It’s racing career.

But, the $126,000 earner finished third in the fastest of three heats, won by Morton’s Jilliby last Wednesday, which has seen her make Thursday’s $15,000 Final at Albion Park.

Saal admits he was unsure Pump It would appear at the track again after heading home from Capalaba scratching his head in October.  

“It was a terrible run and I initially thought she had broken down again because she was going so good up the straight at home,” Saal said.

“I never intended on racing her again but she told me she wanted to.

“I don’t mind free galloping up the straight because I like to keep bitches in a little bit of nick for breeding. I honestly thought she was going as good as ever.”

Pump It has overcome multiple injuries and has faced the starter on just 17 occasions since Christmas Eve 2020.

Among them, a win in a heat of the Listed Carnival Chase over 600 metres in 2021, and a podium finish in a heat of the 2021 Group 1 Queensland Cup.

Checked and injured again in the Final won by Sir Truculent, it would be another 196 days before Pump It was spotted back at the track.

By January this year, the $126,000 earner was eligible for masters events and signalled her return with a 7.25 length victory in that grade before contesting a heat of the Group 1 Gold Bullion.

She would get back to the 600 metres three starts later and looked impressive winning in 35.06 seconds, before trouble struck again.

“She’s had multiple injuries but each time she tells me she’s ready to come back,” he said.

“She gets in the yard and goes ballistic.”

A daughter of good producer Simply An Angel, who is a litter sister to Group 1 winners Thirty Talks and Split Image, Pump It is also a half-sister to one-time Ipswich Cup Finalist, Are Jay Junior, who was trained by Saal.

“Simply An Angel has been very good to me,” Saal said.  

Pump It will be lining up from box eight for just the fourth time in her 57-start career on Thursday night looking for her first win.

But, regardless of the result, Saal says the rising four-and-a-half-year-old has given him more thrills throughout her career than he can count.

“Where she came from in her races, she gave me thrills all the time,” he said.

“She could give them eight to 10 lengths down the back and still win.

“She has been a beauty and when you don’t breed too many dogs, ones like her are hard to come by.”

Combined, the finalists in Thursday’s QGOLD Veterans Final bring 623 outings worth of race experience to the track, the most experienced being Action Now for trainer Claude Dacey, who will be lining up for his 88^th race start.

Dacey will also have Dreamy Dan lining up from box seven, after he won a heat in 30.50 seconds.  

The Peter Evans-trained Night Capers will exit box six after winning his heat in 30.44 seconds.

Jilliby’s Morton has drawn box three for Jamie Hosking, who also has Pebble’s Girl jumping from box three in the $25,000 QGOLD Summer Chase Final over 600 metres.