05 September 2022 | Darren Clayton
Catch up on the week’s harness racing action in our weekly review, thanks to Darren Clayton
THE GOOD
With a name that defies his true character, Rocks Or Diamonds claimed his 11th career victory on Saturday night when he charged home to secure take the Cobbity Equine Band 5 Pace.
While it may not be all diamonds, there have been very few rocks in the career of the super consistent five-year-old trained by Brian McCall.
Overcoming gate seven to score on Saturday and surpass $100,000 in career earnings, the gelding has 11 wins and 28 minor placings from 64 career starts.
The figures are even sharper when you single out this season.
In 2022, Rocks Or Diamonds has raced on 14 occasions, for five wins, five minor placings and a career PB of 1.53.5 to be $100 shy of banking $50,000 in prizemoney for the term.
Justin Elkins has developed a strong association with the gelding. The pair has combined on 25 occasions for five wins and 10 minor placings.
Elkins was in the bike on Saturday and allowed Rocks Or Diamonds (pictured) to drift back in the early stages from the wide gate to sit near the rear in the one-wide line, as No Doubt set the tempo in front.
That tempo was only steady through the middle stages, with an opening half of 62.3 seconds, and in the favour of those near the front of the pack and making it look a forlorn task for the swoopers.
With Bella Ball Terror making a three-wide move with 800-metres to travel, Elkins latched onto the back of that runner to secure the perfect cart into the race.
Putting a 28.2 third quarter down, No Doubt was starting to feel the pinch and the moves were coming, with Mistery Road putting the nose in front as the field swung into the home stretch.
Rocks Or Diamonds was angled four-wide into open space by Elkins as the gelding set out after the new leader.
With 100-metres left to travel, Rocks Or Diamonds moved to a narrow lead and, over the closing stages, responded to Elkins’ urgings to claim a 2.4-metre winning margin.
It was an undefeated evening for Elkins, with just the one drive for the night, taking his tally to 23 wins this season with five of them driving Rocks Or Diamonds.
For McCall, Rocks Or Diamonds is second only to Lebron for most wins and prizemoney of any horse he has trained. Lebron reached open company and retired with 30 wins and more than $250,000 in stakes.
It was a winning night for the McCalls, with Brian’s brother Darren claiming victory in the last race aboard Girl From Oz.
The win was the first metropolitan driving success for Darren since he relocated back to Queensland.
THE BAD
It was all bad luck for the opposition of Blacksadance when the gelding ran a sizzling mile at The Creek on Saturday night to demolish his rivals.
Stopping the clock with a 1.50.7-mile rate, it was the third time that the gelding has gone sub 1.51 around Albion Park.
Digging deeper, the last three times he has been successful over the 1660-metre journey at The Creek, Blacksadance has run 1.50.7, a track record 1.50 and 1.50.9, displaying brutal speed and power.
Settling near the rear from the second line gate, driver Pete McMullen sent Blacksadance (pictured) forward with 1100-metres to travel. Turning out of the home straight with a lap to travel, he slid up to sit outside the leader Aphorism.
After the first two splits were run in 26.9 and 28.7, McMullen put his cards on the table at the 600-metre mark, forging his way to the front to assume control.
With the third quarter in 27.1, the chasing pack looked to be struggling, with only Tommy Lincoln able to mount any form of resistance when he was angled wide to make a run.
Running the last quarter in 28 and with no other runner in sight, the Chantal Turpin-trained speedster recorded the biggest winning margin of 18.9 metres. Tommy Lincoln was second and Feelingforarainbow was third.
The timing was right for race sponsor Somerset Farm, with A Rocknroll Dance to stand for the first time in Queensland this year. Blacksadance is a son of A Rocknroll Dance.
With the emphatic victory, the open class ranks in Queensland might just have a new No. 1 seed.
THE MILESTONE
In her seventh season of training, Tayla Gillespie has reached triple figures after bringing up her 100th winner at Albion Park last Tuesday.
Following a new personal benchmark of 22 winners in 2021, Tayla looks set to raise the bar again in 2022. She has 19 winners for the term with four months of the season remaining.
Sitting on 99 career winners before Tuesday, Gillespie had four horses engaged on the day to chase down the century.
Bourbonontherocks was the first runner, with the veteran trotting mare finishing a solid third after racing wide over the closing stages.
That left the three-pronged attack of Admiral Bronski, Roll One Over and Ohoka Jimmy (pictured) in the 1equine Electrolytes Veterans Pace.
By virtue of gate one, Ohoka Jimmy looked the best chance to be the milestone maker and soon after the start, driver Pete McMullen had the gelding perfectly positioned behind the leader Jumping Jack Jimmy.
After a 27.4 third quarter, Jumping Jack Jimmy had the chasers struggling and the main danger was camped on his back.
As the field swung for home Narissa McMullen tried to pinch the win on Jumping Jack Jimmy, but her brother Pete angled back to the passing lane to take the race.
The win was the second in 29 starts since Gillespie took over training the veteran. It took his overall record to 19 wins in 162 outings.
Of Gillespie’s 22 wins this season, Redcliffe specialist Johnrod leads the way for the stable with the tough six-year-old having his best season.
From 23 starts, Johnrod has won nine at Redcliffe and placed on a further 10 occasions, to lead the stable by both wins and prizemoney.
Other dual winners that Gillespie has prepared this season, include Roll One Over, Ohoka Jimmy, Misterriodejaneiro and Prince Joy.
THE WILDCARD
Matt Elkins delivered his dad Greg the ultimate Father’s Day present at Marburg on Sunday when he steered home a winner with Greg’s only runner of the day.
Already in the record books as the only father-son combination to dead-heat a race – in 2017, the pair combined, with Greg training and Matt driving, to claim the opening race with Bee Gees Bandit.
Completely friendless with punters in a field of six, Bee Gees Bandit was sent out as an $81 fixed chance with the TAB and $101 on the tote.
Starting from inside the second line, Matt Elkins soon worked the gelding away from the inside to be in the running line, as Woodlea Diego led and rolled along at a strong tempo.
Opting to stay in the running line as the race favourite Molliesmaryelle moved up three wide, it appeared if Bee Gees Bandit was going to run into a dead-end.
Swinging around the home bend, Elkins eased Molliesmaryelle wider on the track and set out to chase down the leader.
In a driving run to the finish, Bee Gees Bandit prevailed by the barest possible margin of a short-half-head and Elkins denied his partner Narissa McMullen victory.
That was the second close finish in three days where Elkins had pipped McMullen, claiming victory on Friday at The Creek aboard Hes Perfectly Ideal (pictured) by a half-head over Vindicate.
The pair are locked in their own battle to reach 100 driving wins for the season. Narissa has a three-win lead (95-92) over Matt.
THIS WEEK
With no racing on Monday evening, the week in Queensland will consist of six straight meetings from Tuesday through to Sunday.
Albion Park will host 10 races on Tuesday afternoon, a Friday night fixture and a metropolitan card on Saturday night.
After resurfacing works in the past few days, Redcliffe will be back in action for their regular Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon meetings.
Grass track racing returns to the Moonee Valley of the North, with Kilcoy filling in the Sunday afternoon timeslot with a stand-alone harness meeting programmed to start about 1pm.
Interstate, Leap To Fame looks set to contest a NSW Breeders Challenge heat at Tamworth on Thursday, with likely opponents fellow Queensland-trained three-year-olds, Tims A Trooper and Teddy Disco.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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