The Ashlee Grives trained Lochinver is aiming to become just the third horse to win Bankstown’s Treuer Memorial on multiple occasions. Our Sir Vancelot won it twice in 1996/97 and Washakie recorded five consecutive victories from 2009 to 2013.
While the race no longer carries Grand Circuit status, Grives is hoping to join the select group by winning Friday night’s feature event.
“Lochniver has been a great horse for me, he started racing as a two year old and he is still racing the top horses many years later,” Grives said.
“I’m really happy with how he is going, it has taken me awhile to get him back to his best but I think his last two victories have proved that he is in the best form of his career and if everything goes right on Friday night then he can win the Treuer.”
Grives confirmed Lochniver had a couple of niggling issues last season but she believes his improvement could be a change in routine.
“As he has gotten older I have had to back off his work a little bit, he just can’t cop as much work as he previously could because of the wear and tear on his body.
“I’ve changed things up a bit with his training and he has really blossomed.”
Lochinver will relish getting back to the half mile circuit on Friday night.
“He handles any size track, it is a good asset to have because some horses prefer the bigger tracks like Menangle but with Lochinver he is just as much at home at Bankstown.
“Because he is racing so well I’ll look to target a few of the country cups coming up in New South Wales and Bathurst’s Shirley Turnbull Memorial would be a logical target at Christmas time.”
While Grives will drive Lochinver at Bankstown she has been using the services of reinsman Todd McCarthy on a regular basis.
“Todd is the leading driver at the moment and to me it makes sense to use him, it also allows me to step back for the time being and watch the horses from the sidelines.
“I’m really enjoying the training side of things these days and Todd has been winning races for me so it is something that I am going to keep on doing.”
McCarthy will drive Platinum Roulette for Grives in the Sydney Cup at Bankstown.
“Platinum Roulette has drawn well and I think he is going to be extremely hard to beat, I’m driving Mister Chow in the same race but he has drawn the back row and will need plenty of speed on if he is going to get into the race.
“Platinum Roulette has come back from injury really well, he’s only had the two runs back but he was forced to sit outside Yayas Hot Spot last time out at Bathurst and did a great job to finish as close as he did.”
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
