By Jason Bonnington
AFTER more will-they-won’t-they than the average romantic comedy it’s beginning to sound like Greg Hope and his superstar squaregaiter, Monbet, will target Victoria’s Great Southern Star series.
Though there’s no telling that there won’t be yet another twist.
Having brought his stable star across to tackle the Australasian Trotting Championship Hope was understandably buoyed by the way Monbet claimed his heat of that series Saturday night.
So much so, that the once unlikely prospect of heading home early next month only to return for the Great Southern Star is suddenly growing in likelihood by the day.
“The main thing, and I’ve always said this, is to not overtax the horse early in his career,” Hope said.
“We’re very aware of how good he is and that’s the only reason he’s tackling open class company as a four-year-old but we don’t want to throw him in the deep end for no reason.
“Having said that, he’s just blossoming and blooming at the moment and it (the Great Southern Star series) is a lot of money to pass up if the horse is feeling good.
“Basically, we’re taking nothing for granted but the way he (Monbet) went on Saturday night and the way he’s recovered we’re not ruling anything out at all.”
In many ways, it’s hard to be too emphatic about Monbet’s first Australian outing.
Yes, he wasn’t taking on the cream of Aussie trotting with Keystone Del, Glenferrie Typhoon, Kyvalley Blur and Maori Time all being saved for mobile lead-ups to the Great Southern Star.
But the way he monstered a talented field with such abject ease, obliterating the Ballarat benchmark for a 2710m stand in the process, was something to behold.
Things weren’t quite as rosy for Monbet’s pacing stablemate, Mossdale Conner in the Ballarat Pacing Cup, although his fourth paced effort was a step in the right direction according to Hope.
“I wasn’t happy with the way he went in the Auckland Cup but he’s picked up a whole lot since then and I was a lot more pleased with what we saw on the weekend.
“I don’t know if he’s quite where he was during (NZ) Cup week but he’s definitely getting better; now all we need is a draw this Saturday night.”
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