27 December 2021 | Darren Clayton
Catch up on the week’s harness racing action in our weekly review, thanks to Darren Clayton.
THE GOOD
After returning from a recent suspension, Nathan Dawson was clinging to second placing in the National Drivers Premiership with Western Australia’s Gary Hall Jnr closing the gap.
However, a win on Tuesday at The Creek was followed by a double at The Triangle on Wednesday night, to ease the pressure.
Opening the gap out to 10 wins by the end of Thursday afternoon with Hall Jnr not booked for any drives at Gloucester Park on Friday, Dawson will be out to consolidate this week with the advantage of four race meetings before the season closes on Friday.
The 10-win buffer was set up courtesy of a stellar day in the bike at Redcliffe on Thursday afternoon when steering home four winners.
It was not until race five that Dawson had landed his first winner, Little Arrows using her gate speed to full advantage to claim successive wins for trainer Ross Fletcher.
Rifling off the arm from barrier three before releasing for a trail, it proved the winning move as Dawson was able to get the mare home for victory along the passing lane.
One race later and Dawson was back in the winner’s enclosure with Illbewatching (pictured below) for trainer Stew Dickson, the son of Hes Watching scoring his eighth win this season, with Dawson in the seat for three of those wins.
Forced to sit parked, the four-year-old proved too strong, pulling clear to claim the victory by just over four metres.
Dawson’s next winner came in the ninth race of the day, this time it was an all-the-way effort aboard Lorimer Lady for trainer Peter Greig.
Sent straight to the front from gate four, the Courage Under Fire mare was never in danger, making it a good week for owner Alan Whitecross, adding to his victory with O B Legal at Albion Park on Tuesday.
The final win of the quartet came aboard the Graham Dwyer-trained Little Change, with Dawson positioned perfectly in the trail behind the leader from the inside second line barrier.
Angled to the passing lane when the gap presented, Little Change responded to charge through and claim victory, his fifth success this season at Redcliffe.
Heading into the Final week of the 2021 season, Dawson has second place in the Queensland title behind his cousin Pete McMullen wrapped up, holding a 66-win margin over third placed Grant Dixon.
Second place in the National Title now looks a ‘two-horse’ battle with Chris Alford squeezing past Hall Jnr and with success at Ballarat on Sunday now sits eight wins adrift of Dawson.
It could come right down to the wire with Alford, the nation’s leading driver for the past five seasons certain to have big numbers with the huge night of Vicbred action on Friday at Melton along with the Silver and Bronze Vicbreds at Bendigo on Thursday.
It has been a stellar season for Dawson with highlights for the term including reaching 1,000 career wins, driving 200 winners in a season for the third time and claiming a pair of Group 1 victories with Teddy Disco in the Redcliffe Sales Final and My Ultimate Levi in the Brisbane APG Final.
THE BAD
Sometimes it is often regarded that the most pressure comes with securing the first win of a horse’s career.
For owners Jamie Donovan and Rachel Walsh, that pressure was rising with their three-year-old filly Im Plain Jane who had been winless in 28 career starts.
Donovan feeling even more of the pressure as the trainer of the filly that had been able to secure just three placings in those 28 starts.
Now based in Tamworth, Donovan has returned ‘home’ to Queensland with a small team over the Christmas break and with some of his team QBRED-eligible, hoped to pick up a Christmas bonus.
Entering Im Plain Jane in a maiden event on the Peninsula Club’s Christmas Cup night, Pete McMullen was entrusted with the drive aboard the Hurrikane Kingcole filly.
Starting from inside the second line, the filly settled back in the pack as Sunny Cove set a strong tempo out in front, before McMullen found space going down the back straight the final time to angle into the clear.
Sensing it was a tired bunch of chasers and the leader vulnerable, McMullen put his drive into attack mode with 700 metres left to run, charging after the leader and within 150 metres had hit the front.
Continuing to drive the filly, she had quickly put a big gap on the field that continued to grow all the way to the wire, blitzing her rivals to score by a huge margin.
On the line the official winning margin came in at 62.4 metres, the biggest winning margin recorded in recent seasons in Queensland.
Not only was the margin the biggest seen in recent years, but the time was also slick, breaking the three-year-old fillies record at Redcliffe over the 1780-metre journey.
Stopping the clock in a mile-rate of 1.56.0, the win sliced 0.7 seconds off the winning rate of Shes Miss Devine recorded earlier this season, incidentally Pete McMullen was also in the sulky of that win.
The first race win is now out of the way, as is the QBRED first win bonus, but after such a demolition, has the victory now given Donovan a new headache.
Such an impressive win may just have added an extra dimension of burden with the next step of Im Plain Jane’s racing campaign.
THE MILESTONE
Shane Graham may have dominated the Albion Park Christmas Cup meeting, but it was Pete McMullen that grabbed hold of Redcliffe’s Christmas Cup meeting to make it his own.
With seven drives on the 10-race card, McMullen was able to steer home five winners.
Big Wheels started the run of wins, making full use of barrier one to lead throughout in the Redcliffe Guineas.
Briefly challenged for 100 metres by Chamonix for the lead, he was left alone in front and was able to finish it off through a sizzling closing 800 metres of 54.9 seconds.
Claiming his fifth win of the season, Big Wheels had just over two metres to spare from the Grant Dixon-trained pair of Jasper and Chamonix.
One race later and McMullen again made the winning move soon after the start, when darting in behind the leader from gate three in the Burwood Stud 2YO Feature.
With the perfect trip behind an electrifying tempo as Misty Creek and Class To The Max went to battle, when the passing lane presented, McMullen angled Roses Are Sweet into the passing lane to claim victory.
The win was the ideal Christmas present by Pete to wife Chantal, with Roses Are Sweet owned by Chantal, taking her record to four wins in six starts and now the new owner of the Redcliffe two-year-old track record.
The third of the quintet came with a huge win by Im Plain Jane, pulling clear to a huge victory to breakthrough for her first win, also securing her trainer and part-owner Jamie Donovan the QBRED first win bonus.
Win four came in another feature race, the Redcliffe Trotters Christmas Cup adding the Albion Park Christmas Cup from just four days earlier, when partnering the in-form Doug to victory.
The night was rounded with an added Christmas bonus for Pete and Chantal’s daughter Olivia, claiming victory aboard Go Away in a new career best winning rate for the four-year-old mare.
Although officially owned by Chantal, Go Away was named by daughter Olivia who is quick to put the hand up for any prize money that the mare brings home.
With the Australian Drivers Title well and truly locked away, Pete claimed his second five-win haul of the season, adding the Redcliffe five to his quintet at The Creek back in May.
THE WILDCARD
Leonard Cain became the latest driver to chalk up 100 wins for the season courtesy of a winning steer aboard Misterfreeze at The Creek on Christmas Eve.
Arriving back in Queensland earlier in the season after 21 interstate victories, Cain claimed his 79th local win aboard the Jack Butler-trained gelding to take his tally to 100 for the season.
Despite a successful period when based in New South Wales where he gained plenty of experience when working for the McCarthy stable, it is north of the Tweed where most of the Cain’s success has been achieved.
Although yet to taste a big Group 1 victory, Cain has been able to secure one win at Group 2, five wins at Group 3 and a pair of Listed victories.
All those black-type successes have been recorded at Albion Park, including the Be Good Johnny Sprint earlier this season aboard Mach Da Vinci.
Taking the reins on Friday aboard Misterfreeze, the seven-year-old was buried three back along the marker pegs from his inside second line gate once the field sorted out their order.
With the runs coming as the field turned for home, Cain remained patient and stuck to the inside, finding enough space to dart through the gap when it opened.
In a blanket finish with runners across the track, it was Misterfreeze that had gathered enough momentum to arrive for victory by the barest possible margin of a short-half-head.
Currently driving in his fifth season, the win gave Cain his first ever 100-win season, his previous best the 86 winners claimed in last year’s extended season.
THIS WEEK
Four race meetings remain to complete the 2021 season in Queensland.
Albion Park hosts two of those meetings, one on Tuesday and the last of the season on Friday.
The schedule is slightly different to a normal week with Tuesday’s meeting a night fixture with the first race to start at 5.14pm local time, with 10 races set down for decision.
Redcliffe will host the normal Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon meetings, with Wednesday a nine-race card and Thursday having ten races scheduled.
Saturday night’s metropolitan fixture from The Creek, which will be the first meeting of the 2022 racing season, will see $20,000 stakes boosted mares qualifier programmed.
The week will be rounded out with a stand-alone harness grass track meeting from Kilcoy, where eight races are programmed.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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