By Adam Hamilton
YOU can put the pen through the Perth Inter Dominion for Beautide.
Trainer-driver James Rattray is pleased with the dual Inter Dom champ’s progress, but said he is still two weeks away from a trial.
“I was going to trial him this week, but I gave him another easy week and had him checked right over again,” he said. “We’ve got the all-clear, but I won’t be rushing anything. I’d say he will trial in two weeks.
“He’ll have a couple of trials then I’ll look for a race.”
That means Beautide won’t be back racing until late October and gives which it cutting it too fine to be primed for a Perth raid, given the series starts on November 25 and flights go across from Melbourne a week before that.
Beautide has always raced best on the big Menangle track and, given his recent string of injuries, it makes sense for Rattray to keep him at home and have one last crack at the Miracle Mile with the nine-year-old.
THE “big boy” is ready to race.
Sidelined star pacer Guaranteed grabbed the eye in his latest Melton trial and will now return to the races for the first time since sustaining an injury in the Hunter Cup back on February 7, last year.
Gavin Lang took the reins against another two Emma Stewart-trained stars – Restrepo and Yankee Rockstar – and was happy to ask Guaranteed to do the work in the final stages.
He came to the outside of the leader, Restrepo, while Yankee Rockstar stayed to the inside and used the sprint lane.
Restrepo held-on to win the 1720m trial by a half-neck, but Lang hardly let Guaranteed go and closed very strongly late under his own steam.
Yankee Rockstar made some late ground along the inside to be just another neck away in third spot.
The times were sizzling with a 1min53.8sec mile rate and closing splits of 54.9 and 27.4sec.
And racecaller Matt Jackson said: “They looked like they could have gone a lot quicker, too.”
All three stablemates are being set for the Perth Inter Dominion.
FORMER classy Kiwi pacer Ohoka Punter is building nicely towards the Perth Inter Dominion.
His effort to run second after doing all the work in the My Lightning Blue free-for-all at Melton last Thursday night was enormous.
Ohoka Punter was either three-wide or outside the leader for the entire 1720m trip in scorching times and still finished just 6.5m from the winner, veteran former Kiwi pacer Five Star Anvil.
The 1min51.5sec mile rate was just 0.7sec outside Cold Major’s track record.
The splits of the last mile were: 28, 27.6, 28.8 and 27.6sec.
Ohoka Punter, trained and driven by Nathan Purdon, has had two runs back from a let-up which followed his powerhouse Group 1 Blacks A Fake win at Albion Park in July.
Five Star Anvil, suited by the hot early pace, sustained a big three-wide run around the field to win very impressively.
Driver Zac Phillips heaped praise on trainer Adam Kelly.
“He’s a lovely old horse, a 10-year-old now, and Adam has done a fantastic job to keep him racing so consistently at this level,” he said.
Flaming Flutter, a placegetter in the past two Inter Dominion finals, finished third, but had every chance and is racing well below his best form.
VICTORIAN trainer Vince Vallelonga took advantage of NSW’s dearth of open-class talent with a hit-and-run win in Group 3 Paul Fitzpatrick Cup (2300m) with Major Crocker last Saturday night.
Major Crocker, who has been going well without winning in Victoria, used gate speed to lead win in a 1min55.1sec mile rate,
It came down to a dash home with Jimmy Rattray snaring the pick-up drive and dashing home in 54.2 and 26.6sec.
Vallelonga again has his sights set on the Perth Inter Dominion, starting on November 25.
The other stars of the Menangle meeting were new training partners Shane and Lauren Tritton with a treble.
While their stable star Arms Of An Angel recovers from a health scare, they still landed wins with Saint Flash and classy mares Sudden Change and Katy Perry.
WHAT a welcome move it is for the Miracle Mile to change dates.
After the shambles of last year when Hunter Cup winner Smolda missed the Miracle Mile because of the tight timeline, the gap between Victoria’s major races and the Miracle Mile has been extended.
Credit to NSW Harness Racing Club for taking the feedback onboard and responding.
The calendar now runs like this: Victoria Cup (January 28), Hunter Cup (February 4) and Miracle Mile (February 25).
The one negative in the decision is removing the automatic invite for the Victoria Cup winner into the Miracle Mile. That’s baffling.
Instead, all Miracle Mile hopefuls will need to contest one of the qualifying races at Menangle in February to qualify.
The one exception is the Chariots Of Fire (February 11) where the winner will snare a Miracle Mile berth.
The first two home in the qualifying races will also make the Miracle Mile field, meaning there will be three remaining spots filled by horses which have contested either of those qualifiers or the Chariots.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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