By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk
Gay McClymont thought she had a chance at one placing at Addington’s big Oaks and Aces meeting last night.
But in a night she’ll always cherish she ended up with two wins from two starters, with Rata taking out a Group 2 and then Styrax wrapping up the night with a comprehensive victory in the last.
“I’m a bit dusty,” the Gore trainer said this morning, “but it was pretty exciting.”
McClymont doesn’t just train the winning duo she co-bred and co-owns them as well.
“I was quietly hopeful that that Styrax could place, with three ounces of luck.”
“But two wins! I was certainly not expecting that.”
McClymont’s spur of the moment decision to bring her trotters north certainly paid dividends.
Described as being “not the prettiest trotter”, Rata made a brilliant start off 10 metres in the Group 2 Continental Event Hire Grand Duchess Mares Trot with driver Jonny Cox pressing on to the lead.
The six-year-old daughter of Muscle Mass got the trail and when the leader George Eliot veered out at the 600 Rata got the perfect run on her inside, going away to win by five lengths.
“My watch has an alert on it and I was getting a warning about my heart rate,” McClymont says.
“What she has done has blown me away.”
It was McClymont’s first Group win and Rata’s fifth success in 22 starts.
And five races later she doubled down with Rata’s half sister Styrax. Both winners are out of Larix who won 10 from 47 for the McClymonts about a decade ago.
Styrax (Creatine) was dominant in the Matt Harrison Construction Trot for Brad Williamson. She was three wide briefly before taking the lead a lap from home. She went on to win by three lengths.
Both McClymont’s winners were at double figure odds – Rata at $22, Styrax at $11.
“It’s a big thrill.”
And a highlight for someone who’s been training horses since the 1990s?
“By a big stretch,” she says.
