19 July 2021 | Darren Clayton
Catch up on the week’s harness racing action in our weekly review, thanks to Darren Clayton.
THE GOOD
Prior to any racing taking place on Saturday gone, it appeared that the on-track action would again go up a notch after the first night.
That assessment was franked with several superb performances across the card.
Without a doubt the most popular result on the night belonged to Jeradas Delight following her victory in the Group 1 Golden Girl.
It turned out to be a race of firsts, with the elite level event being held for the first time.
In winning the newly created feature event, the six-year-old mare also provided trainer Jack Butler and driver Brendan Barnes with their first Group 1 victory.
Jack is no stranger to a good horse, having been the stable foreman for Steve Turnbull when Smooth Satin was a dominant force and rehabilitated Hectorjayjay back to winning form in recent times.
Butler had previously been close to a win at the elite level as a driver, beaten a neck in the 2005 Victoria Cup when driving the horse Dinki Di for trainer Chris Frisby.
There is a touch of symmetry to that defeat as the winner of that race was Be Good Johnny, trained out of the same property that Butler and his family now own, having purchased the Logan Village property from John McCarthy.
Since making the decision to head north to Queensland with their family in early 2015, Jack and Tara Butler have not looked back in terms of success.
With the 2015/16 the first full season in the Sunshine State, Jack secured 111 wins that season, and has managed to prepare a century of winners in every season since, on track to reach triple figures once more in 2021.
Building the quality of their team along the way, the Group 1 win in the Golden Girl has been a true reward for a great deal of effort to this point.
Jeradas Delight had been in great form heading into the Golden Girl, including a narrow second the week prior in the Group 3 Fleur De Lil.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, so a strong performance was achievable, however the mare was sent out at $151 with the TAB fixed odds market, and $254 on the tote.
Settling back in the field as Spellbound held the front through a sizzling 26.3-second opening quarter, Barnes was content to be patient as the pace was strong at the front.
Securing a three-wide cart into the contest on the back of Our Princess Tiffany, Barnes hooked four and five-wide around the field approaching the home bend.
Charging home, Jeradas Delight continued to respond to the urgings of Barnes to arrive for the narrowest of victories.
The age-old saying, the harder you work the luckier you get certainly rings true for Butler.
Dangerzone is scheduled to take his place in this Saturday’s QBRED Triad Colts and Geldings Final, could he dare to dream of making it two wins at the elite level within just seven days?
THE BAD
The Belinda McCarthy stable were able to claim a feature race victory on Saturday when Spirit Of St Louis was victorious in the Four Year Old Championship, however the dominant stable would have been hopeful of securing at least one of the three Group 1 events on offer.
It was not to be and was made worse when driver Luke McCarthy incurred the wrath of the stewards by being handed a 14-day suspension out of the DJA Final.
The suspension related to the movement of Humble Ladd at the mile point when Luke angled wide to make a forward movement and, in the process, forced another runner wider, pushing Pete McMullen and Majestic Simon four-wide.
Humble Ladd went on to finish in second behind Pink Galahs.
The second Group 1 of the night was the Golden Girl where Bettor Enforce represented the stable when finishing just outside the money in fourth placing.
The big one – the Sunshine Sprint- was up next and King Of Swing was the second favourite for the race behind Copy That, having been an odds-on elect in 14 of his past 16 starts.
It proved the correct market too as Copy That held on to claim a narrow victory over King Of Swing and give trainer Ray Green a feature race double.
King Of Swing however was huge in defeat with nothing going right for the Grand Circuit champion and he still looked a winning chance at one stage, ultimately going under by the barest possible margin of a short-half-head.
Losing no admirers in the defeat, the McCarthy barn will be hopeful that the bad luck is out of the way on this campaign as we head towards this week’s TAB Blacks A Fake.
THE MILESTONE
Queensland has its newest registered winning driver after Amanda Payne scored victory at Albion Park on Friday night.
At just her fourth race drive, Payne steered the perfect race behind the Denis Smith trained square-gaiter Majestic Ess Jay to claim victory by almost three metres.
With three drives for her mother, also a newcomer to the training ranks, the win was the first time that Amanda had taken a drive for an outside stable.
Allowing the 10-year-old gelding to settle in the early stages after starting from the 30-metre back mark, Payne put the gelding into the race at the bell.
Moving around them three-wide to position outside the leader, Payne displayed poise beyond her years to keep Majestic Ess Jay trotting smoothly while putting the pressure on the leader.
Putting the leader away at the 150-metre mark, the result never looked in danger thereafter as Amanda was able to forge clear and although getting tired over the concluding stages, had enough of a break to claim the victory.
With a background in pony club and riding, Amanda is a relative newcomer to the harness sport and has also spent some time in the mini-trot ranks.
With the maiden breaking win out of the way, it looks onwards and upwards for Amanda Payne.
THE WILDCARD
Horses come in all shapes and sizes, and Saturday night at Albion Park proved that perhaps size does not matter.
Rewriting history in claiming the Darrel Alexander Memorial Final, the Matty Craven-trained Pink Galahs became the first horse to make a clean sweep of the heats and final of Queensland’s premier trotting event.
Starting safely from her 20-metre handicap, Craven was happy to be patient as Humble Ladd and Majestic Simon both made mid-race moves to get forward.
Securing a cart up on the back of Northern Muscle, Pink Galahs was angled four-wide at the 500-metre point and made her charge.
“Look at those little legs” was the call from broadcaster Chris Barsby and Pink Galahs was in front before the home-turn and cruised home to a dominant victory.
Casting a similar size shadow to Pink Galahs is the Derby bound American Dealer who was also victorious on Saturday when claiming the South-East Derby.
Sent three-wide with a lap to travel, American Dealer responded to the urgings of driver Anthony Butt and proved too strong, holding off the fast-finishing Captain Crusader.
That made it successive victories for the pint-sized American Dealer following on from his strong win in the consolation of The Rising Sun.
Another winner on Saturday night showing little horses can be capable of big things was My Ultimate Star.
An Albion Park feature winner as a two-year-old, the now four-year-old has recently taken his earnings past $100,000 and secured his 14th career victory with his latest win.
Swooping home down the outside to score, trainer Jarrod Alchin has stated that My Ultimate Str is the smallest horse he has ever trained.
THIS WEEK
We start the week with a Monday night fixture from Redcliffe to kick-off six successive days of harness racing in Queensland.
However, all eyes will be firmly focussed on the end of the week and the grand final night of the TAB Queensland Constellations.
Headlining the night is the Blacks A Fake, where King Of Swing will be looking to go back-to-back after claiming the 2020 edition that was held in December owing to the COVID-19 changes to last season.
Pink Galahs will be chasing another Group 1 triumph in the Queensland Trotters Cup to be held under mobile conditions.
The QBRED Triad Finals for the two-year-olds will also be decided with Cat King Cole the main player in the fillies, while the colts and geldings will be shaped by the barrier draw, with Teddy Disco a top chance to add a second Group 1 for the season to his tally.
The Queensland Oaks is another that will be draw dependent with no filly looking a dominant force at this stage, although Sporty Dancer was stylish in victory in the lead-up event of the South-East Oaks.
The sixth Group 1 on the night will see Krug looking to claim the Queensland Derby, but it shapes as a super contest, with a strong host of challengers that includes the South-East Derby winner American Dealer.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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