By Mike Love
It was appropriate that Lord Fantasy gave Oamaru trainer Steve Allen a win in yesterday’s Gavelhouse.com mobile pace.
Because that’s exactly where he acquired the horse in the first place.
“I bought him off Gavelhouse. Paul Kerr trained him. He said he just needed time. When he won at Oamaru he called me and said it’s great you’ve got him going,” said Allen.
That first win was on debut in December 2023.
Yesterday’s success was the Betting Line five-year-old’s second in 22 race day starts. It came at the Banks Peninsula Trotting Club’s meeting that was transferred to Addington after days of rain in Canterbury.
“I’m very excited, he’s been going good all season without getting the right run.” said Allen in a post race interview.
Lord Fantasy with driver Matthew Williamson settled three back on the marker line where they went to sleep until a gap presented itself at the top of the straight. In a blanket finish Lord Fantasy was able to grind his way to the lead winning by a short margin of a head from the fast finishing Red Wine Kisses.
“It was a good run. He’d been looking for the right sort of run for a while and he got it today,” said driver Matthew Williamson.
“He will probably go to the paddock now as it gets harder to find the time to work them in the winter,” says Allen.
Allen is employed by fellow Oamaru trainer Phil Williamson, and trains his own team from the Oamaru racecourse.
“I’ve been working for the Williamsons’ for about 15 years.”
Lord Fantasy was Allen’s first winner of the season and sixth of his training career.
Other highlights on the card included a double for leading reinsman Blair Orange (Hey Tonight and Logan Rock) and a double for junior driver Sam Thornley (Royal Del and Regal Spirit), including his win in the former in the Sam Thornley and Wilson House Junior Drivers Trot.
