by Michael Guerin
The men behind stunning debut winner Sex On Fire were getting excited about her late tilt at the Breeders Crown. But that didn’t last long.
Because when trainers John and Josh Dickie delved deeper into taking the daughter of Crazed to Melbourne, for a hit and run mission on the series later this month, they struck a rather significant snag.
“It wasn’t till we looked into it we found out she was ineligible,” said Josh Dickie, who drove Sex On Fire to her huge win last Friday.
To be fair to the Dickie’s they hadn’t even considered the Crown until Sex On Fire smashed her older rivals, by eight lengths in a 2200m maiden last Friday, a rare debut win for a two-year-old against older rivals in this country.
Even rarer is a juvenile beating older opponents by such a huge margin, showing Sex On Fire has inherited some of the ability of her dam Miss Whiplash, a 13-race winner.
“We hadn’t even thought about the Breeders Crown because she has come to things so late,” said Dickie.
“But when she won that well we started to think about it, especially because the trotting divisions are now split into male and female too.
“But as it turns out she isn’t eligible, which is a real shame because it would have been a great series for her.”
Sex On Fire isn’t the only Kiwi filly to miss the series, with the All Stars opting to bypass it with Luby Lou, even though she won her Breeders Crown heat at Addington last month.
That leaves speedster Renezmae, who finished second in that Addington heat, as the New Zealand rep for the fillies juvenile trotting division, and she makes her Australian debut against the colts in the Redwood at Maryborough on Sunday.
It won’t be easy taking on Jewels runner-up One Muscle Hill and Victorian excitement machine Wobelee, but young trainer Jack Harrington is confident his filly is ready.
“I think we can run with One Muscle Hill because she has shown that before, but maybe Wobelee is a different kettle of fish.
“But whatever she does this week she will improve on and obviously she doesn’t have to take on the boys in the Breeders Crown.
“It is cool to have a horse in Australia in my colours and Ants (Butt) and Sonya (Smith) have really helped me negotiate all the things I have to do differently over here.”
With Butt committed to Smashthemcalder, who is trained by partner Smith on Sunday, and Renezmae’s regular reinsman Dexter Dunn overseas, John Caldow will take the reins in the Redwood.
“But Dexter will be back for Breeders Crown Day and she will contest a heat over here on August 17,” said Harrington.
Also on Sunday’s trotting only card NZ Oaks winner Chevron Express faces a second line draw in the A$75,000 Victoria Trotting Derby.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
