26 March 2014 -Bendigo based reinswoman Ellen Tormey loves competing at Mildura and enjoyed a “night of nights” there on Tuesday March 25, chalking up a driving treble included in which was a training double for local Merbein South trainer Jason McGinty – Fineandsunny and Ellehigh. First to arrive was the heavily backed Fineandsunny in the Seelite Windows & Doors Mildura Trotters Cup Pace for C0 class over 1790 metres. Settling three back in the moving line from gate two on the second line, Fineandsunny a four year old daughter of Village Jasper and Sunny Sometimes was set alight racing for the bell to park outside the pacemaker Isajet (gate three) which was also backed off the map. in a two horse war for the final circuit, Fineandsunny prevailed by a half head in a rate of 2-00.8, with Saint Stormy (one/one last lap) 4.7 metres away in third place.
Four year old Elsu/Lookuphigh gave McGinty the double when successful in the Harness Breeders (Vic) Pace for C0 class also over 1790 metres.Sent forward from outside the front row to cross Horizon Miss with around 1200 metres to travel, Ellehigh defied all challengers to account for Robelles Falcon which dropped to the back of the winner at the bell after Horizon Miss went off stride. Modernize finished third after always being handy. The mile rate 2-01.2. Stawell trainer Owen Martin provided Ellen with her second winner, splitting the pair when Modern Art/Lagoon Fantasy gelding Usage snared the Park Douglas Printing 3-Y-0 Pace over 1790 metres. Angling to be one/one from a solo second line draw, Usage eased three wide on the home turn to tackle the leading pair of True Character and Billy Mack and in a punishing finish, gained a half head decision over a game Billy Mack and True Character in a rate of 2-00.2. With thrilling racing all through the night, the feature event on the program – the Mildura Pacing Cup Carnival April 8-12 Pace for C6 or better class over 2190 metres saw bonny six year old Blissful Hall/Forest Glory mare Maarstricht chalk up her 14th victory in 49 outings much to the delight of Melbourne owner/breeders Jack & Nola Munnerley, giving the brood mare her 118th winner. Trained at Mildura by Shayne Cramp, Maarstricht starting inside the second line with young Zac Phillips in the sulky possied three back along the markers, with stablemate Attitude Adjuster leading from gate two and the favourite Uncle Wingnut trapped without cover after going forward from gate four. Taking over prior to the home turn, Uncle Wingnut was challenged strongly by Our Walden Bury which had trailed the leader getting clear in plenty of time, with Maastricht extricated into the clear to give chase. Finishing brilliantly, Maarstricht bloused Our Walden Bury by a head right on thewire in a rate of 1-58.4. Uncle Wingnut wasn’t disgraced in finishing 6.2 metres back in third place after doing plenty of work.
0 Comments
9 March 2014 - Victoria's Mr. Trotting Chris Lang has taken a clean sweep of the first round of the Lyn McPherson Memorial Breed For Speed, completing his trio of Bronze, Silver and Gold heat victories with a winning double at Bendigo's Lord's Raceway last night.
Lang won the first of the Breed For Speed heats at Maryborough on Thursday training and driving Russian Tiavon and last night Shes An Image and Maori Time completed the set. Considering the association that Duncan McPherson and his family have had with the Lang stable over the years, it was appropriate that trotting maestro Lang dominated on the night. Without doubt, the Gold Heat was the highlight – the victor being five year old Shes An Image bred and raced by the Humphrey’s from Melton.Beginning brilliantly from outside the front line, Shes An Image almost crossed the well tried Quite A Moment (gate two) as the mobile gate pulled away, however Greg Sugars was able to retain the inside running approaching the first turn, with Shes An Image being restrained to immediately take a trail on her back. Kerryn Manning aboard the local hope Aleppo Midas (gate three on the second line) was off and running prior to the bell and joined Quite A Moment with a lap to travel. With the two favourites engaging in a two horse war along the back straight, the pace was a cracker with neither giving an inch. Just as Aleppo Midas was being hailed the winner in the shadows of the post, Shes An Image a daughter of Last Sunset and Joyces Choice sprouted wings along the sprint lane to score by a head in a tricky finish, with Quite A Moment 1.3 metres away in third place.With splits of 28.9, 30.5, 28.5 and 29.6, Shes An Image returned a mile rate of 1-57.4. The Silver heat going the way of long odds-on favourite Maori Time ($1.40), a well performed daughter of Pegasus Spur and Sundonna bred and raced by Fred Crews which goes back to the famous Maoris Idol dynasty. Not bustled from gate four with Im Anonymous leading from gate two, Maori Time ambled to the breeze, before taking over at the bell. Always in control, Chris allowed Maori Time to cruise to the wire, scoring by 1.4 metres only from Queens Vacation (three back the markers) and Canadian Dream (four back) in a mile rate of 1-59.8. The Breed For Speed victories earned winning connections two bonuses on top of the race prizemoney with Maori Time taking the VHRSC $1,500 Owners Bonus and Shes An Image winning the BHRC $500 Speed Bonus. Further heats including the Bronze, will be conducted at Shepparton on Friday March 14. Finals are held on Saturday 22 March - Pryde's EasiFeed Great Southern Star & Girls' Night Out at Tabcorp Park Melton. - David Aldred and Len Baker What Happened in 1954? John Cain (Snr) was Premier of Victoria and Bob Menzies was the Australian Prime Minister. Footscray won its first and only VFL ( AFL) premiership. Rising Fast won the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup. Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley and The Comets topped the hit parade. Elvis Presley launched his musical career. Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh came to Bendigo (The Upper Reserve now the QEO) Lord’s Raceway open for business. The first organised trotting meeting in Bendigo for over 30 years held under lights at Junortoun. 19 January 2014 - Trotter My High Expectations is on track for another tilt at the Great Southern Star, connections hoping he can go two better than when he ran third in the inaugural running of the feature race last year. The David Aiken trained-and-driven seven-year-old, who was bred in the US, took out last Saturday night’s Group 2 Aldebaran Park Maori Mile at Bendigo, holding off heavily-backed runner-up Kyvalley Blur despite doing the bulk of work in the run. Aiken was understandably thrilled with the performance, My High Expectations forced to punch the breeze for most of the journey with Kyvalley Blur enjoying the perfect slipstream on his back. “He deserved it,” the Avenel horseman said of his trotter’s 24th career win. “I’m really happy that he’s been able to carry on from last season. “When I had Kyvalley behind me in the run I got a bit worried. “It was probably always going to end up that way, but I was able to duck down the pegs pretty quickly when I got past Junior’s (Chris Lang’s) horse at the home turn (Im Ready Set), so that helped.” My High Expectations had a neck margin on the line, with Kyvalley Blur finishing hard for second, the pair putting a 12.2m gap on the rest of the field headed by third-placed Empire Earl. The winner stopped the clock in 2:00.9, with a mile-rate of 1:57.9.
Aiken said the March 22 Great Southern Star Final remained the main aim, suggesting the week-to-week lead-up races to the big dance at Melton’s Tabcorp Park would suit his charge. “Everything rolls along one week to another with the lead-up runs, but he’s showed that’s no problem,” he said. “We’ll definitely go to Ballarat (after contesting the Group 3, $20,000 George Gath at Shepparton on Saturday night) for the Australasian Trotting Championship heats and we’ll see how he gets through that. And of course there’s the big Glenferrie Farm Challenge up in Sydney as well. “That’s the race he got a late invitation to last year and he ran a really good race (to finish fifth). Aiken’s other Maori Mile runner, Cold Sister, finished fifth after being caught wide from outside the front row at the start and having to ease back to last before copping a check from the galloping Aleppo Midas at the home corner. “Nathan (Jack) was really happy with her run. He said if she didn’t get checked at the turn she probably runs third,” he said. “It was a real shame she drew wide because those short-course races are her go.” - HRV Media 12 January 2014 - My High Expectations earned an invitation to the Great Southern Star after scoring a stirring win in Saturday night's Maori Mile at Lord's Raceway.
My High Expectations ($2 fav) eased in betting late because of the heavy support for Kyvalley Blur ($2.70).The two best performed trotters in the field didn't let punters down.They cleared out in the final 400m to fight out the finish and it was My High Expectations who prevailed by a neck. "They're both very good trotters,'' David Aiken said of his trotter My High Expectations and the runner-up Kyvalley Blur."My High Expectations is just a good horse. He doesn't let you down. "We think a lot of him... he'll mix it with the best of them." My High Expectations had to do it the hard way from the death seat, while Kyvalley Blur had a good run directly behind the favourite. Kyvalley Blur looked set to run down My High Expectations in the final 100m, but Aiken's star trotter just kept fighting."He seems to be getting better and better,'' Aiken said."I knew Kyvalley Blue would come at him in the home straight, but My High Expectations was stong to the line." The $400,000 Great Southern Star is at Melton in late March. - Adam Bourke (Bendigo Advertiser) 12 January 2014 - Im Corzin Terror produced a brilliant frontrunning performance to win Saturday night's PETstock Bendigo Pacing Cup in dominant style.
Aided by a masterful drive from Chris Alford, Im Corzin Terror ($3) won by the best part of 15m from Wartime Sweetheart ($5.60), with outsider Uncle Wingnut ($44.30) running a bold race in third place. The 50th edition of the Cup at Lord's Raceway proved to be a third victory in the race for Alford (Tailamade Lombo 2000 and Knight Rainbow 1995) and a first win in the $50,000 event for Lara-based trainer Dean Braun. "I have a very high opinion of this horse,'' Braun said after the win. "Everything hasn't gone his way of late, but he showed what he can do tonight. "He's just a lovely horse."The Cup was expected to be a shootout between Im Corzin Terror and favourite Bitobliss ($2.50 fav.), but it didn't eventuate. Once Im Corzin Terror crossed stablemate Mustang Mach to find the lead, Alford rated the six-year-old to perfection. He cruised through the first quarter of the last mile in 30.1 seconds, before slightly upping the tempo with a 28.3 second quarter. The slow tempo up front forced driver Scott Stewart to put Bitobliss into the race three wide with a lap to go. Alford put the foot down 600m from home and Bitobliss found little. Im Corzin Terror scorched away from his rivals to win comfortably, while Bitobliss struggled into 10th place. "He's had no luck his past four starts, but he made amends tonight,'' Alford said. "Once we got to the front he travelled beautifully. "We got away with a cheap quarter early and from there he was always going to be hard to beat. "Even after the slow tempo early, he's still run 1:57.7 for the mile rate so that's still good time."He's a pretty good horse." Minutes after Im Corzin Terror's win, Caribbean Blaster took out the Group One South Australia Cup in Adelaide. Alford is confident Im Corzin Terror will measure up to the top line pacers in next month's Hunter Cup. "He's improving all the time,'' he said. "With the right run he'll be more than competitive against those really good horses." The great Vin Knight (five wins) is the only driver to have more success than Alford in the Bendigo Pacing Cup."It's been a nice race for me, hopefully there's a few more to come,'' Alford said. - Adam Bourke (Bendigo Advertiser) 5 January 2014 - the 50th Bendigo Pacing Cup is fast approaching and the Bendigo Harness Racing Club has some great racing, activities and prizes planned. The family entertainment event will give racegoers the chance to win a Dubai Holioday for 2 with entry coupons in the Bendigo Advertiser daily. $1000 Cash in the Maori Mile Sweepstakes draw and great prizes in the fashions on the field with categories for Open. Under 40yrs, Under 25yrs, Men and Children (5-12yrs). The race card is the best of the year with the Gr2 Petstock Bendigo Pacing Cup and Aldebaran Park Maori Mile. Cup Page Bendigo Cup Honour Roll |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2015
Categories |