Well-travelled trotter Tyron Lochie appears to have clicked instantly with his new trainer Rachel Scott and today at Albion Park blew his opposition away and smashed his career best mile rate with an impressive 35.8 metre victory.
Having just its second Queensland start the 7yo son of Continentalman took off with just over half a lap to travel in the 3yo+ Trot and driver Rob Gorman went for home quickly spacing the field.
With a lead of over 40 metres rounding the final bend Gorman gave Tyron Lochie an easy coast to the post in the 2138 metre mobile to register a 1.59.4 mile rate, five seconds better than the New Zealand-bred gelding’s previous best time.
Tyron Lochie ($5.30) spaced runner up Galaxy Hunter ($78.60) and there was a further 77.3 metres back o third placegetter ($54.30). The race favourites ($2.20) and Saratoga ($2.60) both broke in running and finished a long way from the winner.
“I haven’t had one that has won by this far before,” an excited Scott said after Tyron Lochie’s race.
33 year-old Scott trains at Lower Mt Walker, near Rosewood and Tyron Lochie only entered her stable this month after she picked up the trotter on the advice of its former NSW trainer, Darren Hancock.
“We have a good affiliation with Darren, buying horses off him in the past and he always has steered us in the right direction,” Scott said. “He said that the horse wasn’t suited around the big Menangle track and referred us to his previous form on smaller tracks in Victoria and New Zealand where he had some nice wins and performances.”
Tyron Lochie is still very much a work in progress and Scott believes she and her mum Margaret, who owns the horse, are going to have lots of fun with him.
“I’m still getting to know him, we have known each other for one-and-a-half weeks and its fun working each other out, I made some adjustments to his gear after his first race on Tuesday when he stood flat footed from the standing start and even knowing the horse goes much better from a mobile start, he still has lots of improvement in him yet, he wasn’t exhausted after this race,” Scott said.
The main Albion Park trotting races today were the qualifying heats for the G1 Darrell Alexander Trotting Championship final.
In the first it was a double case of wife versus husband with the wives coming out on top.
Trista Dixon drove Sharons Millicent for owner Sharon Mitchell and Trista’s husband Grant drove race favourite Our Overanova for Sharon’s husband Greg. Both horses are trained by Grant Dixon.
Sharons Millicent ($3.40), a 6yo grey Monkey Bones mare, came from 10 metres wore down 40 metre Our Overanova ($1.80) to score by a neck rating 2.00.9 for the 2138 metres standing start . Starting from the front line Morning Fawlty ($8.30) ran home strongly to take third place.
Sharons Millicent now has a second placing and a win and Our Overanova, two seconds going in the $50,000 Final on 17 October at Albion Park.
Cyclone Lucky Seven will go into the Final with two wins beside its name. The Alex Alchin trained Majestic son gelding has a perfect Albion Park record and is unbeaten at three starts this season with another win at Menangle last month.
Driven by Luke McCarthy, Cyclone Lucky Seven didn’t put a foot wrong, stepping away cleanly from his front mark to lead from start to finish. The $1.50 favourite packed too much power for another Sydney-sider, the Blake Fitzpatrick trained My Valerie ($5.60), driven by Pete McMullen with Grant Dixon’s Blue Don ($19.80) putting in an improved performance to fill third place.
Cyclone Lucky Seven posted a 2.02.9 final mile.
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