NEXT stop New Zealand for Australia’s top three-year-old trotter Not As Promised.
Father-son training team Graham and Layne Dwyer said they were looking forward to facing the best of the Kiwis after Not As Promised snared his second Group 1 victory of the season at Melton last night.
First came the Victoria Trotters’ Derby as a rank outsider, but Not As Promised was a $2 favourite when he worked to front and won as he liked in the $75,000 Breeders Crown final last night.
“It’s a relief to get this one, but we’re not finished yet,” Layne Dwyer said. “We’ve got New Zealand to come and hopefully we can do the same thing over there.”
Not As Promised is booked a flight on Wednesday from Melbourne to Auckland and then down to Christchurch for the huge December 10 meeting at Addington.
“I know they’ve got some really nice young trotters over there and it’ll be hard,” Graham Dwyer said. “But it’s not just about winning, for us its about competing and having a crack.”
Australia’s leading driver Nathan Dawson, who is rapidly closing-in on 400 wins for the season, confirmed he would make the trip to Addington.
It’ll mean a quick turnaround from night three of his home state Inter Dominion final on the Saturday night to get to Christchurch for the following day.
Not As Promised, who owner Tony Veivers bought from Greg Sugars and Jess Tubbs just a few months ago, has raced nine times for the Dwyers for eight wins and a fourth.
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YOU can add rejuvenated pacer Hi Manameisjeff to Jason Grimson’s Brisbane Inter Dominion team.
The six-year-old made it six wins from just seven starts in Grimson’s care when he thrashed a handy field in the Tony Turnbull free-for-all at Menangle last night.
“Jase (Grimson) has made a few gear changes and thinks he will get around the track (Albion Park) better than he did in the Victoria Cup (Melton),” driver Cam Hart said.
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WHEN David Moran bought Timmy Rictor at the Bathurst yearling sales he had one stipulation, Clayton Tonkin and Emma Stewart had to train the colt.
It may sound strange from a rival trainer, but it’s proven a fantastic formula.
Timmy Rictor blitzed his rivals in last night’s $250,000 Group 1 Breeders Crown 2YO colts and geldings final at Melton.
It made up for Timmy Rictor’s only defeat in six starts when he ran second in the Bathurst Gold final back on March 25.
Although Moran doesn’t train the colt, he does all the driving and his clients own him.
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THIS is one heck of a crop of Aussie two-year-old fillies.
Just a few weeks after the brilliant Lux Aeterna broke the Australasian two-year-old fillies’ record at Menangle, she found one better in Victoria.
Very Pretty capped a short but stunning first campaign when she made it five wins from as many starts winning the $250,000 Breeders Crown final last night.
The daughter of American Ideal led, copped some pressure at times, but won easily in a slick 1min54.9sec mile rate for 2240m.
Lux Aeterna lost no admirers with a fantastic second, while another NSW filly Millwood Bliss ran a terrific third.
The only disappointment of the race was the Very Pretty’s previously unbeaten stablemate Draw A Dream, who sat parked and overraced before tiring badly to finish eighth after winning her first six starts.
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LUKE McCarthy’s hit-and-run Melton trip certainly paid dividends last night
McCarthy had a handful of drives for Emma Stewart and snared a double with Like A Wildfire winning the free-for-all and Perfect Class taking out the $150,000 Breeders Crown final for three-year-old colts and geldings.
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IT was only fitting Major Delight gave Emma Stewart a clean sweep of the Breeders Crown pacing finals last night.
The daughter of Bettors Delight is unashamedly one of Stewart’s absolute stable favourites and she sat parked to beat classy stablemate Joyful in stunning style.
Major Delight’s record is amazing with 19 starts netting 16 wins, three seconds and almost $600,000.
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VETERAN media man Ken Casellas is usually writing stories about feature harness races, but he made news of his own last Friday night.
Casellas is a part-owner of former Kiwi mare Simply Shaz, who scored an upset win in the WA’s biggest mares’ race, the $150,000 Group 1 Westral Mares’ Classic (2536m) at Gloucester Park.
Simply Shaz, a five-year-old daughter of American Ideal, came off the back of leader and $1.40 favourite Wonderful To Fly to gun her down in the last few strides and win by 2.1m in a 1min56.7sec mile rate for the long 2536m trip.
It was the perfect time for the Peter Anderson-trained mare to break a 20-race losing streak with Trent Wheeler aboard.
Earlier, former WA Pacing Cup winner Wildwest returned to winning form in the free-for-all for trainer Gary Hall Sr and son, Gary Jr.
It was just his second win in 21 starts since winning the WA Pacing Cup on February 4, last year.
