Harness Racing Victoria’s Summer of Glory carnival climaxes this weekend at Melton with the all-trotters Woodlands Great Southern Star meeting tonight and the Del-Re National Hunter Cup meeting tomorrow night.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Only one Northern Victorian trainer — Locksley’s John Nissen — has a starter in either the Great Southern Star or the $500,000 Hunter Cup; the $400,000 Great Southern Star, in which two heats are worth $50,000 and there’s a $300,000 final, are all run within three hours of each other tonight.
Nissen has the talented Locksley Lover contesting the second heat of the Great Southern Star from a second row draw.
With Bec Bartley in the sulky he still looks a strong each-way chance of qualifying after storming home behind Kiwi star Majestic Man in the Dullard Trotters Cup at Melton last Saturday night.
While Nissen holds the sole hopes of a district trainer claiming the Great Southern Star, Shepparton’s Nathan Jack has drives in both heats.
He will partner the Anton Golino-trained Hopeful Beauty and Im Ready Jet in their respective heats.
Hopeful Beauty has a tough outside back row draw while Im Ready Jet comes from gate four over the 1720m dash.
While there is no district-trained pacers contesting the Hunter Cup, Goulburn Valley horsemen have drives in the race.
David Moran will drive one of the main fancies, the Emma Stewart-prepared Honolua Bay, who charged into second place behind Kiwi Copy That in the Ballarat Pacers Cup on January 21.
Mark Pitt has decided to drive Hurricane Harley in preference to another Stewart-trained hopeful, Mach Dan, in the 2760m marathon while recent Shepparton Cup winner Cranbourne is an emergency for the race for Avenel trainer David Aiken.
Another of the features at the Hunter Cup meeting, the Group Two $100,000 Alabar Bloodstock Ladyship Cup has a Goulburn Valley-trained mare in the field.
Byrneside trainer Laura Crossland will line up one of the outsiders, Cheyella, from barrier five off a front row, while Mark Pitt will drive the Stewart-prepared Polly Put Kettleon, who has a poleline draw.
Cody’s lucky escape in Tasmania
Former Goulburn Valley reinsman Cody Crossland suffered extensive, but miraculously not life-threatening, injuries in a car and float rollover in Tasmania last Sunday night.
Cody was returning to the training base of Ben Yole near Launceston from a Hobart meeting when the car he was travelling in with four other people ran off the road and tipped the float over in the process, killing the four pacers it was towing.
Another trots driver in the car, Bronte Miller, also suffered serious injuries.
Cody’s mother, prominent GV trainer Laura Crossland, said Cody suffered severe facial wounds and multiple broken bones and a liver tear which will all need a lengthy recovery process.
‘‘The were going uphill at the time of the accident and were not travelling that fast which probably helped it from being a lot worse,“ Laura said.
Seven on the bounce
Not many horses win seven successive races but that’s what Tatura trainer Craig Turnbull and his reinswoman daughter Abbey have now achieved with pacer Hiranya.
Having his first start since September after winning four races on the trot on the Riverina Raceway at Wagga Wagga after wins at Shepparton and Hobart prior to that, Hiranya raced outside the favourite Bide Our Time for the last 1100m and was still good enough to get the better of that pacer over the concluding stages.
The second win in Hiranya’s winning sequence was the Tasmanian Derby last April in which his stablemate National News finished third.
By Bettors Delight out of the Courage Under Fire mare Holme Fire, Hiranya has now won nine of his 18 starts with four minor placings, which have produced more than $73,000 in prizemoney earnings.
It proved a fruitful few days for the Turnbull team which also landed a winner, Hidalgo, at the Maryborough meeting on Monday.
Having just his third race start and his first outing since October 2021, the four-year-old son of American Ideal scored an all-the-way win in a top first-up training feat.
Mel’s memorable day
Nagambie horsewoman Mel Thackeray savoured her first win as a trainer when she drove four-year-old trotter Aldebaran Tanisha to a runaway win at the Maryborough meeting on Monday.
A four-year-old son of Muscle Hill stallion Aldebaran Eagle, Aldebaran Tanisha gave a dashing front-running display to spread eagle the field, cruising to the finishing post almost 18m clear of the runner-up and favourite Keayang Zendaya with a slick 28.8 final split.
The Aldebaran Park-bred Aldebaran Tanisha had displayed her ability in her debut race at Kilmore on January 19 when she ran second to Kyvalley Helen and was well in the market for her debut win, paying $2.20.
Corey’s taste for success
Shepparton’s Corey O’Donoghue, who had scored his first win as a reinsman nine days previously, certainly wasted no time in posting his second winner.
Corey had a bit of punter pressure on him at the Maryborough meeting on Monday, driving the red-hot favourite Big Bad Ossie, but again got the job done with minimum fuss.
A four-year-old by Life Sign, trained by his father Steve and Bec Bartley, Big Bad Ossie was having just his sixth race start and his first since August last year but was obviously forward enough to score his second career win.
Big Bad Ossie made an impressive debut as a two-year-old in December 2021, winning at Shepparton, but has had only four starts since then through fitness issues.
‘‘He is still not quite right and we’ll give him a spell now,’’ said co-trainer Steve O’Donoghue after his win on Monday.
Big Bad Ossie’s win came on top of another of the O’Donoghue-Bartley team, Franco Norway, winning at last Friday’s Shepparton meeting.
Franco Norway hadn’t raced since July 2021 and up to then had won once in four career starts.
He went amiss with tendon trouble when trained by Tim Butt in Sydney as a two-year-old and found his way to the O’Donoghue-Bartley barn about eight months ago.
He has been given a slow preparation with plenty of swimming to get him back on the track and O’Donoghue rates the pacer highly.
Driven by Bartley he was spot-on for his comeback race at Shepparton where he worked three-wide early to find the lead with a 27.5 last quarter, landing him a win by more than 11m.
Lettuce at them
Lightly-raced trotter Lettuce Trot returned to the winners’ list with a dominant display at last Friday night’s Shepparton meeting.
By pacing sire Tintin In America, Lettuce Trot made a safe getaway from a wide front row draw, found the lead early and kicked away in the home straight to beat the in-form Watch An Act and Tripod who put a big run after breaking early in the race.
Lettuce Trot pulled out a slick 58.2 last half which gave him a winning margin of over 16m over the runner-up.
Despite being pacing bred, Lettuce Trot has always been a talented trotter who won two races at Menangle as a two-year-old to kick off his career.
One of these wins was in the $30,000 NSW Two Year Old Trot final in which he spread-eagled his rivals to win by over 22m in slick 1.57.8 mile rate time for the 1609m trip.
But Lettuce Trot never raced as a three-year-old due to what his Shepparton trainer Russell Jack described as ‘‘continuous niggling injuries’’ and returned as a four-year-old on January 13 at Charlton when he broke twice in running in a heat of the Central Victorian Trotting Championship.
But at his next start he put the writing on the wall as he was finding some of his two-year-old form when he ran a close-up third at the Cobram Cup day meeting.
So at the moment his record stands at three wins and two placings from just the seven lifetime starts.
Stylish success
Stanhope trainer Gary Pekin continued his recent winning streak when former South Australian pacing mare Stylish Heaven claimed her first Victorian win at Shepparton.
Having her third start for Pekin and her 56th race start, the five-year-old Rock N Roll Heaven mare unleashed a winning burst of speed in the back straight from three back in the running line, which proved the winning move by Pekin.
Although drifting out in the home straight, Rock N Roll Heaven was never in danger of being run down, beating the runner-up Sheza Chocolatier by over 10m.
Most of Stylish Heaven’s racing has been done at Globe Derby Park in Adelaide and her latest win kept the momentum going for Pekin, who has produced Cresco Threepeat and Harnett for wins in recent weeks.
This win rocked
Avenel-prepared nine-year-old gelding Letsrockletsroll has found a new lease on life, posting a PB in a slashing win at last Saturday night’s Melton meeting.
Driven by Michelle Phillips, the son of Rock N Roll Heaven powered home from last at the top of the home straight to swamp his rivals and nab a last stride win in one of the best of his 15 lifetime wins.
His mile rate of 1.53.0 over the 1720m trip was a PB and the win completed back-to-wins for the veteran pacer who had scored at Bendigo to break a run of 15 starts out of the winners’ circle.
Letsrockletsroll, who is owned by Lancaster’s Merilyn Dixon, took his career prizemoney earnings over $134,000 with the win.
Smooth Harley is back
The uncanny Emma Stewart-Clayton Tonkin training team has resurrected another former topliner back to winning ways.
Returning to their stable after 13 Western Australian starts, which produced just the two wins, Hurricane Harley ran his rivals ragged in the Group Three Casey Classic at Melton last Saturday night.
The seven-year-old Bettors Delight gelding, driven by Mark Pitt, capitalised on his barrier one draw to lead throughout for a comfortable win in 1.54.1 mile rate time for the 2240m trip.
Hurricane Harley, who had some epic duels with superstar pacer Lochinvar Art, was having just his second start since returning to his former stables with a first-up second to the budding superstar Catch A Wave, good enough form to send him out a $1.65 favourite in his latest win.
While Pitt and Avenel trainer David Aiken were the only Goulburn Valley horsemen to savour success at the meeting — the first night of the Summer Of Glory Carnival — there were some eye-catching efforts from some district horses.
The David Moran-trained Curly James was huge in running second to the impressive Betterzipit in the $50,000 Breakthrough Final in 1.53.3 mile rate time, while the John Nissen-trained and Bec Bartley-driven Locksley Lover stormed home to finish fifth, beaten by four metres in the Group Two $50,000 Dullard Trotters Cup which was won by the Kiwi star Majestic Man.
The upset of the meeting came in the $100,000 Three-Year-Old Classic in which Dangerous started a $1.15 favourite but ruined his chance with a couple of breaks.
But his stablemate Catalpa Rescue did precisely that in winning the race at 100/1 with youthful concession driver Abby Sanderson in the sulky.
Plunge on target
A betting plunge came off when Sport Mental got an inside run to snatch victory at last week’s Shepparton meeting.
A seven-year-old Sportswriter mare, Sport Mental was having her second start for the Julie Douglas stable and firmed from a peak price of $19 on one betting agency to a fixed-odds starting price of $3.80 favourite.
It didn’t look good for punters who had waded into the early generous price, with Sport Mental spending most of the race locked away four back on the pegs.
But their luck changed when space became available along the sprint lane in the home straight in the dying stages, which the mare was good enough to take up and go on to her 11th career win from 83 tries.
The week ahead
Meetings coming up:
Today: Melton (n)
Saturday: Melton (n)
Sunday: Kilmore (n)
Monday: Maryborough (d), Mildura (n)
Tuesday: Swan Hill (n)
Wednesday: Stawell (d) Shepparton (n)
Thursday: Bendigo (n)
Friday: Geelong (n)
Sports reporter