By Adam Hamilton
THE Perth Inter Dominion if off the agenda for My Field Marshal.
Trainer Tim Butt confirmed he would keep the classy former Kiwi pacer in Victoria for a string of races before relocating to Sydney where he will soon set-up his base at Menangle.
“We just don’t think the four races in two weeks, especially with a couple being longer races, will suit him,” he said.
“He’s had his issues with the wind operation and we’re better to space his races and target the shorter races as well.”
Meanwhile, Butt’s exciting four-year-old Let It Ride steps out again at Cranbourne tomorrow (Tuesday).
“He’ll have this run, then another at Cranbourne before that 4&5YO Championship at Melton next month,” Butt said.
Butt confirmed he would share a barn with Ashlee Grives at Menangle.
Grives has formed a partnership with Kiwi horseman Mark Jones, who will rotate horses from NZ to her Menangle barn to increase racing opoportunities.
“I’ve got Rocker Band, Delightful Memphis and Whittaker here now and they aren’t far off racing,” Grives said.
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JIMMY O’Sullivan landed one of Aussie harness racing’s biggest accolades when crowd the Gordon Rothacker Medallist last night (Sunday).
The Kiwi-born horseman, who now lives in Queensland, is best known for his 1987 Christchurch Inter Dominion and NZ Cup wins with My Lightning Blue.
O’Sullivan’s other stars included the likes of Quite Famous, Its Motor Power, Our Brenray and Margaret Shannon.
On the same night, Lennythshark edged-out stablemate Hectorjayjay in a very tight vote for Victorian Horse of the Year honours.
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THE stirring clash between Chicago Bull and Soho Tribeca wasn’t the only big talking point at Gloucester Park last Friday night.
A veteran former NSW pacer called Sokys Bigbullet set tongues wagging with the most breathtaking of WA debuts for new trainer Tony Svilicich.
Svilicich is the man who worked such wonders with veteran stars Mysta Magical Mach and Has The Answers.
Word was out Sokys Bigbullet would run well, but he did more than that. He scored the most dominant wins and stamped himself as a potential feature race player.
The big striding eight-year-old, who won 19 of his 80 starts in NSW, led and driver Colin Brown just let him roll.
Instead of tiring, he just ran a handle field of rivals ragged and won by almost 10m in a flying 1min54.8sec mile rate for 2130m.
The mile rate was just 1.9sec outside Beaudiene Boaz’s track record.
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NO wonder they call him the whiz kid.
Victoria’s top young driver Jason Lee etched yet another milestone into his bounty when he drove half the card – four of the eight winners – at Melton last Friday night.
The wins included emerging mare Keayang Kallisto for his mum, Marg Lee, in the feature race, the Blossom Lady for mares.
Lee surprised some by leading and opting to park hot favourite Carlas Pixel then stave her off late to win by a half-neck in a slick 1min56.9sec mile rate for 2240m. They ripped home in 55.6 and 27.5sec.
Just as satisfying to Lee was another win for his mum when veteran and stable favourite Keayang Steamer returned to winning form in race eight. Just for good measure, the nine-year-old posted a flying 1min52.9sec mile rate for 1720m.
Keayang Steamer has been plagued by injuries since looking an emerging superstar when he beat Smoken Up in the 2014 Horsham Cup.
Lee’s other wins came aboard Peter Manning’s trotting mare Garston Girl in race three and Bad Billy in race four.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
