AN EXCITED Kate Gath liked what she felt.
Gath will play stand-in driver on New Zealand’s top young trotter Speeding Spur when he caps his Breeders Crown preparation at Melton on Friday night.
The pair teamed-up for a “practice” in a Melton trial today and the result was a narrow but easy win.
And, more importantly, Gath said Speeding Spur stepped well from the standing-start, which are the conditions of Friday night’s race against older, more-seasoned rivals.
“John (Dickie, trainer) told me it was his first go from the stand for a while so I took it easy and just let him step away by himself, which he did comfortably,” Gath said. “He felt like he’d have stepped quicker if I’d asked.”
Gath sat last in the three-horse trial, made her run approaching the final bend and nursed Speeding Spur to the line to win by a metre over Miss Noelle, who sprint-laned late.
The closing splits were 58.6 and 29sec flat.
“John said he’s fairly laid back and really responds when you ask him, but I never really did ask anything much at all of him in the trial,” Gath said.
“I’m so excited to get the drive on him.
“John said a couple of weeks back that Josh (Dickie’s son), might have commitments at home for this race and he’d give me the drive. What a thrill.”
Speeding Spur was so impressive smashing the track record to win the Victoria Trotters’ Derby last Sunday week he assured of being a hot favourite from gate four in Friday’s 2240m race.
That said, he’s facing some talented older rivals like Glenferrie Dreamer, Quite A Moment, Bellmac Kody and Vics Cheval, but they all have 10m handicaps.
Another trotter well-known to Kiwis, Keystone Del, will be the centre of focus for the wrong reasons when he tackles the Group 3 Vulcan Trotters’ free-for-all (1720m) at Melton on Friday.
Nicole Molander’s superstar was lucky to win first-up after making an early break then getting handed the lead.
Of more concern was the fact he looked all over the shop and broke three times in running at today’s Melton trials when a well-held second to Glenferrie Typhoon.
Keystone Del is a class above his rivals on his best form, but those manners are a worry.
And this race is over the 1720m sprint trip with Maori Time drawn the pole and Claudys Princess in gate three.
The other Melton highlight will be Flaming Flutter’s quest for a third successive win. He will dominate betting in the Minuteman free-for-all (2240m).
This season’s Sydney Inter Dominion runner-up is the lone back row runner (gate eight) and looks to have far too much class for a moderate field, headed by his struggling stablemate Franco Ledger (gate four).
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