By Adam Hamilton
A dairy farmer from Victoria’s remote western districts looms as the biggest hurdle to the rampaging All Stars’ barn winning another major Australian race.
In one of the sport’s most enchanting stories for many years, hobby trainer Ange McDowall as unearthed the most exciting of juvenile pacers in Lumineer.
Although Ange herself is playing things down – we’ll tell your more about why that is later – the rest of the Aussie harness community is buzzing about the talent Lumineer has displayed in his four wins from as many starts so far.
The latest of those came when he led throughout to win seemingly in second gear in a 1min52.5sec mile in his semi-final of the rich Australian Gold series at Menangle last Saturday night.
While many horses can get a little lost around the huge 1400m track at Menangle the first time, Lumineer whizzed around it, sight unseen, as though it was his own backyard.
He reeled-off splits of 27.3, 30.0, 28.0 and 27.2sec with young gun driver Jason Lee sitting against him.
It compared to the 1min54.3sec the All Stars’ latest gun juvenile, Sicario, posted winning the second semi. Albeit he sat parked and also looked as though he could’ve gone much quicker.
He will need to against Lumineer in this Saturday night’s final.
Lumineer’s first sign of being something special came at his third start when, in a heat of the Australian Gold, he sat parked outside Fly Like An Eagle’s brother, Higherthananeagle, and lifted after looking beaten to win in a sizzling 1min53.8sec mile rate for 1720m around Melton.
For McDowall the exciting signs were there a lot earlier, but she’s been scarred bad luck with the other two best horses she’s had and still wants to keep a lid on things. Well, as much as she can.
“We’re a dairy farming family on a property about 20mins from Warrnambool, but we also dabble in the horses. We’ve got three at the moment and although I’m the training, it’s a family thing. My sisters Clare and Theresa help out a lot. As do Mum (Louise) and Dad (Brian),” she said.
“The time we spend with the horses we probably should be spending on the cows, but all love the horses as well.”
The McDowalls thought they had found a really serious horse in 2015 when Hellbewright won two of his first three starts.
“He looked really promising, but he needed to have an operation and died of complications with the anaesthetic,” Ange recalled. “We’ve had our share of bad luck, that’s for sure.”
More bad luck came last year when their improving pacer Masterofthurles succumbed to a career-ending injury. “He went from a C1 to C6 in one campaign which gave us a thill,” Ange said.
“With the history we’ve had, you can see why the first thing I do each morning is pop into Lumineer’s box just to make sure he’s OK and has eaten-up, etc.”
Part of his training routine is regular trips to the popular Lady Bay beach in Warrnambool – where so many of champion thoroughbred trainer Darren Weir’s horses are trained.
“He loves it. I see all the gallopers in there. You can swim the horses around off the back of row boats,” Ange said.
It’s helped quickly mature Lumineer from a raw talent to quite the pro.
“It’s happened pretty quickly. I remember his first trial when Jason (Lee, driver) really had his hands full. The horse went left, went right and was so green,” Ange said.
Lee was an easy choice as driver, not just because he’s such a prodigious talent, but he’s also part of the family, literally.
Lee’s grandmother was Alice McDowall before marrying into the Craven family. So Jason is Ange’s second cousin.
McDowall remembers “falling for” Lumineer when first saw him a video ahead of the Australian Gold sales.
“He had real presence as I watched him and being out of a Rocknroll Hanover mare was another big plus. I was thrilled when we got him for $30,000, which is about mid-range I guess,” she said.
There has been a lot of speculation about big offers for Lumineer, but McDowall wanted to set the record straight.
“I’m bloody annoyed actually. We haven’t knocked-back any big offers, despite what you might have read,” she said. “There haven’t been any genuine offers we have even considered.
“That’s not to say he’s not for sale. We’re not like that, we would consider a genuine offer, but for now we’re just looking ahead to the week and hoping he can keep going the way he is and stay sound.”
McDowall opted to stay on-course at the Menangle stables between the semi and this week’s final.
“It’s hard to replicate the training set-up we have at home because it’s quite different, especially with the time he spends at the beach, but there is an aqua walker here and he does seem to have settled in really well,” she said.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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