by Michael Howard
Having had his runners place third and fourth in the past two Park Douglas Mildura Pacing Cups, trainer Vince Vallelonga is well poised to find the podium’s top step this Saturday.
Major Crocker and Egodan won cup heats one and two last night for the Bolinda trainer, impressing with 14 and 4-metre wins respectively to kick off the Mildura Harness Racing Club’s three-night carnival.
Most telling was the ease with which Major Crocker swept past his rivals in the first heat, a reaffirmation of the Art Major gelding’s top-end talent.
“The objective was to be in front of Menin Gate and move forward, because Mildura is tricky when you are coming off the back row,” Vallelonga said. “It all went to plan.”
From the second row Sugars allowed Major Crocker to roll forward and after Murranji Track had seen off Flag Bearer and Brallos Pass to hold the lead, Sugars surged and took the front. There was little time for a breather, with the Birchip bull Menin Gate joining him soon after.
“When Menin Gate came to the front the pace quickened and the last four quarters were sub 30 and (Major Crocker) handled it really well,” Vallelonga said.
A 28.6-second final quarter left Major Crocker in a class of his own and he saluted in a 1:58.9 mile rate, some 1.4 seconds outside the track record set by stablemate Stunning Grin in last year’s cup heats that was built off a bristling lead time.
In Major Crocker’s wake was a wall of four separated by just 0.4m, with the local Murranji Track battling on for second ahead of luckless favourite Brallos Pass, Beachstar and Majestic Lustre. Menin Gate was a further 1.3m back, a sixth placing that has him listed as the emergency for Saturday’s $60,000 Group 2 final.
For Major Crocker, the result brought a first victory to an encouraging season, having bounced back from a virus-riddled Inter Domination campaign with placings in Group 1s the Victoria Cup, Canadian Club Sprint and Bohemia Crystal. Vallelonga said a somewhat disappointing last start fourth in the Kilmore Cup was later attributed to a further virus, but that Major Crocker was back in fine fettle.
“When he’s right he can match it with anyone,” he said. “He’s also a good gaited horse which helps him at Mildura.”
One of his leading threats in Saturday’s cup may come from stablemate Egodan, who will start from the pole mark in the final and showed in last night’s heat that he will take some chasing down on the 810m circuit.
“(Egodan) was very good last night,” Vallelonga said. “His Ouyen Cup was a pretty good run when he did a lot of work. I was a bit disappointed in his Echuca Cup, but it’s not the horse’s fault – I was a bit kind to him in the lead up after his tough run at Ouyen. But I thought while it didn’t help him at Echuca it would top him off for this week.”
And so it would prove, with Petroff reclaiming the front from Parramatta in the early stages and, after being able to switch off for the first (31.1) and second (30.7) quarters, gapped the field with a 27.8-second third quarter that made it impossible for class swoopers Milly Perez (second) and Messini (third) to mow him down.
“He got that good first half in and when the others started to make their run I knew my bloke could run a 56-second last half and make it hard for the backmarkers to get into it.”
And so the stage is set for Saturday’s showdown at 9.02pm.
“It will be a really good final,” said Vallelonga, who believes Egodan can utilise his pole mark and Major Crocker be prominent among the second row heads of state.
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