By Adam Hamilton
REJUVENATED trotting veteran Maori Law is being set for the Dominion Trot at Addington in November after his stunning win at Ballarat last Friday night.
In a race many felt would signal the new brigade of young trotters in Victoria, Maori Law wound back the clock with a powerhouse front-running display to win the Group 3 John Slack Trotters’ Cup by 8.4m in 2min0.6sec mile rate for 2200m.
The eight-year-old, who has shown elite talent at times, clearly peaked at just his fourth run for co-trainers Richard and Emmett Brosnan.
It was his first win since scoring in a moderate Wangaratta Trotters’ Cup on March 8, last year.
“Our plan all along was to set him for the Dominion in Christchurch then come back for the (NSW) Inter Dominion series,” owner-breeder Fred Crews said. “We just didn’t want to say anything publicly until he showed us he was back to his best at the races.”
Maori Law beat a strong line-up with Yabby Dams’ exciting four-year-old mare Im Ready Jet running a huge race for second and top-class McLovin in third spot after sitting outside the leader and winner.
X X X
TEAM Bond may have its strongest team of open-class pacers yet.
Greg and Skye Bond have Mighty Conqueror already at the top of the heap, but Patronus Star and Vampiro in the mix as well.
And soon Minstrel will be locking horns with them as well.
Minstrel, winner of the Group 1 Golden Nugget earlier in the year, has returned with four wins from as many starts this campaign.
He overcame a 30m handicap to win two starts back and stepped it up to win from a 40m backmark at Gloucester Park last Friday night.
Not long after, Vampiro returned to his very best when he led throughout and thrashed a handy free-for-all field with Dylan Egerton-Green aboard.
The seven-year-old went a blistering 1min55.9sec for the long 2536m trip, ripping home in 56.5sec to score by 20.6m from stablemate Patronus Star, who came from last for second.
The other highlight of the Gloucester Park meeting was the continued rise of Colin Brown’s four-year-old mare Fifty Five Reborn, who won a stirring duel with Gary Hall Sr’s exciting pacer Alta Blues in the $30,000 Group 3 4&5YO Classic.
X X X
CRUNCH Time is a young pacer going places,
The four-year-old has always packed stunning high speed, but he’s developing the strength and versatility to go with it.
He’s clearly thrived from tackling races like The Rising Sun and Sunshine Sprint where he ran solid races for seventh and sixth respectively.
Trainer Rickie Alchin left him in Queensland after the Carnival and Crunch Time produced a stunning performance to win a very strong opening race at Albion Park last night.
Despite making an early mistake and working hard midrace, Crunch Time overpowered the favourite Mach Da Vinci with Tommy Lincoln a distant third.
It was a brilliant Nathan Dawson drive to launch Crunch Time from last at the 1200m, out-zip Mach Da Vinci to find the lead and still keep going.
X X X
FORMER Kiwi horseman Jack Trainor continued his fantastic form with a feature win at Menangle last night.
Trainor trained and drove the emerging mare Never Been Said to a barnstorming win in the Group 3 Club Menangle Winter Championship final.
Never Been Said, heavily backed into $2.70 favouritism, unleashed from near last to win running away by 1.9m in a slick 1min51.7sec mile.
It was Never Been Said’s third win from just seven starts since joining Trainor’s Menangle stable.
The other Menangle highlight was Double Encounter’s narrow win for veteran trainer Harry Martin in the free-for-all.
X X X
TRAINER Andy Gath can’t wait to get talented former Kiwi pacer Tango Tara into better races.
The five-year-old has won two of his six runs since joining Gath, the latest when he was simply a class above his rivals at Melton last night.
“He was driven with a sit in most of NZ races and I’m sure that’s what he likes most, but you can’t do that when you’re going through the grades and favourite. You have to put him into the race,” Gath said.
“When he gets into the better races, we’ll be able to drive him more for luck.”
X X X
CLASSY former Kiwi pacer Triple Eight bounced-back to winning form in the free-for-all at Melton last night.
It was his second win in seven starts since leaving Team Telfer to continue his career with Jess Tubbs and Greg Sugars in Victoria.
And it was an outstanding win given Triple Eight did the work outside the leader and favourite Bettor Be The Bomb before clearing out to win by 4.1m in quick closing splits of 55.4 and 27.2sec,.
The six-year-old has posted 14 wins and banked $334,291.
Sugars backed-up 30 minutes later to win the feature trot of the night on the Brent Lilley-trained Kyvalley Chief.
The five-year-old finished strongly from well back to nab stablemate Robbie Royale by a head.
Another Kiwi-bred Diamond Party snared her biggest win when she used the sprint lane to take out the Group 3 Jane Ellen for mares at Melton last night.
The four-year-old daughter of Art Major has been very consistent since coming across to Joe Pace’s stable and still looks to be improving.
