15 February 2012 - Group 1 winning mare Miss Warbucks and USA speedster Cold Sister will be the two star attractions in Sunday’s inaugural Aldebaran Park Girls On Fire Time Trial Series for trotting mares at Bendigo’s Lord’s Raceway. Seven mares have nominated to compete for the $5,000 stakes plus Aldebaran Park and Loddon Valley Stud stallion services in the 1609 metre Time Trials to be raced between the Club’s TAB races on Sunday evening. Trainer Chris Lang Jr. has will time trial two mares, Group 1 winner Miss Warbucks set to race the clock and the nine-year-old Sundon mare which has already banked over $142,000 and picked up the prize purse in the Gr 1 Trotters Mile at Menangle last November should be the star attraction. Another attraction will be the rising star square gaiter Cold Sister, the four-year-old US bred mare by Like A Prayer, trained for Cold Mountain Stud by David Aiken. Cold Sister is capable of clocking a sizzling mile and already has a 1:57.3 mile rate from a Melton victory in December. Aldebaran Park’s Duncan McPherson congratulated Bendigo on attracting the quality mares for the trotting promotion. “This is a great start for a new event with quality mares out to better their best times and to promote trotting, that’s what it’s all about,” McPherson said. Other interesting mares time trialling will be five-year-old US Conway Hall mare Sultry Lady, a David Aiken trainee that has won four of seven races this season and the former New Zealand mare Dealornodeal NZ, now with Chris Lang. Gillieston trained Prettylilangeleyes knows the Bendigo track well and will be driven by local ace Daryl Douglas in her time trial. Others time trialling are Ruth Shinn’s Last Sunrise and the Brian Kiesey trained Candy Digger. The first of the Girls On Fire Time Trials will start at about 6:05pm with the remainder between each subsequent race. The trotter’s time trialling are each expected to have a pacemaker, galloping alongside to encourage each of the mares to reach top speed. Sunday’s race meeting also features the Final of the HRTC Young Drivers Rising Star Series as the feature TAB race on the eight race card and a Pony Fancy Dress Competition which has attracted interest from around Victoria. -David Aldred
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12 February 2012 - Goornong trainer/driver Peter Salathiel is in the Intensive Care Unit at the Bendigo Hospital after being injured in a three horse fall at Bendigo's Lord's Raceway today.
Salathiel was driving Riverboat King filly Cherwood which was the first of three horses to fall, 800 metres from the finish of the 1650 metre 2yo Pace trial. Nigel Milne, driving Live or Die filly Dieing Secret and Bruce Morgan driving Village Jasper colt Supreme Village also came to grief in the fall. Salathiel and Milne were both injured and treated on the track by paramedics before being taken to hospital. Morgan escaped injury. Salathiel's wife Beatrice said that the 53 year old reinsman would spend the night under observation in ICU after suffering a collapsed lung and three broken ribs in the fall. "He also has plenty of soft tissue injuries and he is pretty sore at the moment," Mrs Salathiel said. "His lung was punctured and they (the doctors) want to keep him under observation in intensive care." Milne suffered a broken elbow and after treatment was not detained in hospital. The three 2yo pacers escaped serious injury. - David Aldred 10 February 2012 - With 13 prizemenonety cheques from 13 starts three-year-old Bettors Delight filly La Machane oozes quality. The Greg Sugars trained and driven filly will start the number one pick in tonight's inaugural Warehouse Sales Gold Bracelet at Bendigo's annual Tabcorp Park race meeting at Melton. Raced by Nola and Jack Munnerley, La Machane has won nine races and banked $128,000. Her non winning performances include being runner-up in Cowgirls N Indians ABC Final at Tabcorp Park last August. The $7.000 race for fillies has attracted a more than handy line up with the Emma Stewart trained Beauty Secret (Chris Alford) shooting for five straight wins and the Bendigo bred and owned Real Bonus (David Aiken/Scott Dyer) in good form leading into this race. The Gold Bracelet race card features 8 races with the first commencing at 6:24pm.
3 February 2012 - “You better check this horse’s brands, I think I was driving Smoken Up”. Nineteen-year-old Ararat apprentice plumber and harness racing driver Leroy O’Brien couldn’t believe how fast he just went on four-year-old Artiscape gelding Franco Noriega. With a smile as wide as the Sydney Harbour bridge, an excited O’Brien made the jovial quip to on-course vet Dr. John Brown as he took the winner to the swabbing box. The former New Zealand pacer had just clocked a track record 1:53.1 to win the first heat of the inaugural HRTC Rising Stars Young Driver’s Series at Lord’s Raceway Bendigo. “He went super, his (Albury) trainer John Scott told me he was quick, but this performance was unbelievable,” O’Brien said. Franco Noriega paced a champion’s mile rate to demolish Airzone’s 1:54.2 Bendigo track record in the 1650 metre penalty free pace for C1-C2 class horses. The distance was covered in 1:55.9 with Franco Noriega, given a perfect run behind the leaders by O’Brien before finishing off the last quarter in a slashing 28.3. The field of novice drivers burst through the opening sectionals in 27.2; 29.4 and 27.9.with Bendigo’s racecaller Lachlan McIntosh nominating that the winner was on target for a record performance going into the final quarter. Having his first Australian start and his 11th career outing, Franco Noriega started the $3.00 race favourite and defeated Waterslide (Casey Parker) by 10.4 metres, local mare Giggling Girl (Corey Bell) rounded out the top three finishers, holding down third place almost 20 metres from the winner, after being given a tough run without cover. Franco Noriega had shown ability in New Zealand with two wins and seven prize money cheques for the Steven Reid stable before coming to Victoria but his latest performances at Alexandra Park during December were obviously well below his best. Winning driver O’Brien is hoping he can put a notch on his belt by winning the Rising Stars Series. “I’m off to a good start and I’d like to draw another one as fast as him.” Points are awarded to the young drivers for each race in the Series, the next race is at Maryborough on 17 February with the Final at Bendigo on 19 February. O’Brien is from a trotting family, he has driven 15 winners and has been driving for close to two years. His father Danny O’Brien will harness up Windinyasoup in the Consolation Final of the Inter Dominion Trotting Championship at Tabcorp Park, Melton on Saturday night.
Points for Rising Stars Series: Leroy O'Brien (12) Casey Parker (10) Corey Bell (9) Denbeigh Wade (8) Emma Bowles (7) Charlie Martin (6) Ashley Manton (5) Mitchell Shrimpton (4) Aaron Woodhouse Ashby (3) Tim McLean (2) Jacob Kerridge (1) - David Aldred 1 February 2012 - A wide barrier draw has made a difficult task even more difficult for Bendigo trotter Billy The Brat in Saturday night's Group 1 Inter Dominion Trotting Championship Final. The Bill White trained Billy The Brat, a 100-1 shot, snuck into the field for $250,000 Final at Melton with a creditable fourth placing behind deadheaters I Can Doosit and I Didnt Do It in last Saturday night’s final round of heats at Ballarat. The tradesman-like performance was enough to qualify the 7yo Huntly squaregaiter for the historical Championship decider but the White's who have done a fantastic job to get Billy The Brat into the Final were hoping for a better barrier draw. Billy The Brat drew 11 on the second row for the Final. The Inter Dominion will be easily the biggest race Billy The Brat has contested with each of the rig's seven victories on Victorian country tracks. The son of Keystone Salute has had 34 starts, winning a total $42,000 in stakes. Kiwi squaregaiters dominate the top rankings but there are a couple of Victorian's with real winning prospects. Seelite Window's and Doors' Michael Taranto will be represented by a favourite in I Didnt Do it who has drawn perfectly at gate 2. Jodi Quinlan drives I Didnt Do It for Merv Williamson. Defending Inter Dominion champ I Can Doosit (gate 4) heads the table for champion Christchurch conditioner Mark Purdon after winning both of his heats at Shepparton and Ballarat. Fellow New Zealander’s Springbank Richard (9), Stylish Monarch (6) and Sovereignty (13) are next on the list with four-time Australian Trotting Grand Prix champ Sundon’s Gift (7) seventh on 19.5 points. - David Aldred
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December 2012
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