WHEN your stablemate is Keystone Del, it’s understandable you’re going to live in his shadow if you are a trotter.
But Maori Time deserves to and now certainly has burst out of that daunting shadow.
Brent Lilley’s mare won a historic third successive Group 1 Bill Collins Trotters’ Sprint (1720m) at Melton’s Tabcorp Park last Saturday night.
And she did it different style – coming from off the speed from a back row draw as opposed to her customary front-running dominance.
Maori Time, raced by the passionate and successful owner-breeder Fred Crews, now boasts 23 wins and 19 placings from her 59 starts and just shy of $400,000 in earnings.
Great Southern Star winner Glenferrie Typhoon found the lead and was passed late along the sprint lane by the emerging Sparkling Success, but then Maori Time dug deep and snatched victory in the last stride in a slick 1min56.6sec mile rate.
In completing a hattrick of wins in the race, Maori Time went one better than former champion Kiwi trotters Pride Of Petite and Take A Moment, who both won it twice.
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THINGS are about to get a lot more serious for Let It Ride.
Tim Butt’s exciting four-year-old is two-from-two in Victoria this campaign, but will step into the big league in next month’s 4&5YO Championship at Melton.
It’s effectively a line-in-the-sand race for Butt to see if Let It Ride is genuine Chariots Of Fire material.
“I think he’s pretty good and the Chariots is where we are headed, providing he keeps stepping-up,” he said.
Let It Ride made a one-act affair of the Cogs Final (2240m) at Melton last Saturday night, winning by 22.6m in a slick 1min56.5sec mile rate.
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TEAM Tritton came to Melbourne to win the Victoria Cup.
That didn’t happen despite Yayas Hot Spot running two good races in both the Smoken Up Sprint and Victoria Cup.
But the Shane and Lauren Tritton still left a big mark with the emerging Real Social posting two breathtaking wins within eight days at Melton.
The second came when he demolished a good field in blazing times.
Despite starting from outside the back row, Real Social cut loose in the last lap around the field to charge away and win by 8.2m in a 1min51.9sec mile rate for 1720m.
“That’s some sort of win. He’s going places on what’s showing us at the moment,” Shane Tritton said.
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FORMER classy Kiwi pacer Motu Premier is loving life in Western Australia.
Since being switched to Ross Olivieri’s barn, the former All Stars’ team member has raced seven times for six wins and a second.
He looked very sharp returning from a let-up to win in quick time at Gloucester Park last Friday night.
Having his first run for nine weeks, Motu Premier finished strongly from a good trail to win in a 1min56.1sec mile rate.
The free-for-all on the night lacked a bit of depth and it was Skye Bond’s seven-year-old Simply Susational who returned to winning form despite doing the work outside the leader to win in a 1min56.5sec mile rate for 2130m.
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LET’S hope gifted trotting mare My Tribeca can keep putting it all together.
Anton Golino’s six-year-old cleared out for the most arrogant of 10.2m wins in a the Yabby Dam Racing Trotters’ free-for-all (2240m ) at Melton.
The headstrong Italian-bred mare has so far shown enormous potential in 21 starts, which have netted eight wins, five placings and $76,138.
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TRAINER-DRIVER Ricky Alchin snared one of the more important wins of his career when talented mare Delightful Jade won the Group 3 A Piccadilly Princess Stakes (1609m) at Menangle last Saturday night.
The daughter of Bettors Delight worked to the front from wide draw (gate six) and kept rolling in a 1min52sec mile.
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