By Jason Bonnington
ON either side of the Tasman Sea there are drivers known as Icemen.
In New Zealand, that reinsman is Tony Herlihy, in Australia it’s Gavin Lang.
Despite the achievements of their contemporaries, these two men remain the benchmark and their moniker says it all.
Cool in a crisis, cold blooded in their approach, nerveless in a crisis, ice running through their veins.
And for the Australian Iceman, time has not wearied nor the years condemned.
It’s a fact he fortified on Saturday night at Melton.
The boffins and stats-nerds are yet to confirm it, but Gavin Lang’s effort to drive four consecutive Group 1 winners – the Quaddie no less – on Vicbred Super Series Grand Final night must be some sort of Australasian record.
“I probably take things a little bit for granted sometimes, but I sort of think I’m only as good as the horses I drive and the trainers I drive for,” Lang said after the Vicbred Super Series haul.
“A little bit of luck goes my way but as a lot of people keep pointing out to me, even with all those things in your favour you’ve still got to be able to get the job done.
“I don’t think it’ll be until the end of my career before I can probably relax and say I’ve had a good go at it and maybe some of the things people say about me are right but night’s like Saturday will obviously stand out.”
Despite sharing three of his four Saturday night Group 1 successes with leading trainer, Emma Stewart, Lang’s other triumph with Dont Hold back may well have been his favourite for the night.
Having never even driven the little son of Courage Under Fire in trackwork, Lang got an unexpected call up early in the week to take the reins for the first time in a $100,000 race.
Normally unflappable, the Iceman was thawed a little after coming through in spades.
“I must say when I got the text to drive him (Dont Hold Back) I was very excited but also a bit surprised, Lang said.
“Mario Attard had been training and driving the little fella and it was a big decision on his behalf to step aside going into a big Group 1 race.
“Winning that race was obviously a great personal thrill but HRV have got this great social media department now and when I jumped on You Tube after the races and saw the joy from Mario and everyone else after the race it really makes you appreciate the win even more.”
While the sentimentality of Dont Hold Back’s success in the 3YO boys’ division of the Vicbred Super Series was something special, so was Ideal For Real’s win in the 4YO males’ decider.
Pitted as the race of the night with four-time Group 1 winner Menin Gate drawn to lead, Ideal For Real set to breeze and Tee Cee Bee Macray playing ambush artist, this was a race that lived up to expectation.
And as most had anticipated, Ideal for Real fortified his status as a future Grand Circuit star with a devastating, arrogant, foreboding success.
“Races don’t always pan out the way you think they’re going to but that one sort of did,” Lang said.
“He (Ideal For Real) is a great little racehorse and he’s still only had 18 or 19 starts as a four-year-old so the future augers well for him.
“At the moment Victoria has a plethora of great horses looking forward and I’m just lucky yo be in a position to be associated with some of them.”
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
