by Duane Ranger
He might have let the favourite punters down when galloping in his only start on the track in The Jewels Final on June 4, but Marcoola was all class as he destroyed his 12 opponents at Cambridge Raceway on Christmas Eve.
The Ken Ford trained 4-year-old crushed his Group Two Turf Bar Trotters Flying Mile opponents by 11-3/4 lengths in the $50,000 Free-For-All.
The Sundon entire and Clint Ford trotted the 1609m in 1:56.3 (mile rate 1:56.3) with final 800m and 400m sprints of 59.1 and 29 even.
Arya (Mark Purdon) and Valmagne (Scott Phelan) filled the minors. Marcoola paid $1.50.
“It’s just so good to get around on two inflated tyres this time around,” joked driver Ford. “He’s felt good all week and I thought he would go a big one today.”
Ford was referring to Marcoola’s last start fourth when pulling a flat tyre in a New Zealand record run Rosslands Lyell Creek Stakes at Alexandra Park on December 16.
Today his tyres were fine and Ford worked Marcoola around to the parked position and then had difficulty getting past Luk (Chin) and Djokovic.
“I didn’t think he was going to let me get to the front. I had to ask my horse for a bit more and we finally got to the top down the back. He felt extra from there on,” Ford said.
When Marcoola did get to the front at the 700m he simply said goodbye and left his lesser quality opponents to it. The further they went the further he went ahead.
Trainer (Ken) Ford said he half expected a big performance.
“That was brilliant and well earned. Clint took luck out the equation when he opened them up down the back. I thought he would go a big one today. It made up for his bad luck in his last race,” Ford Senior said.
Ford (Clint) said he was now looking forward to the $80,000 Group One National Trot at Alexandra Park in seven days.
“That would have tightened him up nicely for that. He should be tough to beat but you can never say that too confidently in racing. It would be nice to win another group One at Alexandra Park,” the Marlborough reinsman said.
Ford drove Marcoola to his Group One New Zealand Derby and Northern Derby wins last season.
Marcoola has now won 11 of his 19 starts and banked $216,989. He is owned by the father-and-son combo and was bred by Ford (Ken), Mrs D H Ford, Mrs A J Tomlinson, M C Tomlinson.
The TAB reacted by tightening his National Trot price from $2.50 to $1.90.
The day’s other feature race – the Group Two $50,000 JLT 4&5yo Futurity Pace also went to a hot favourite.
This time the Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen trained Chase The Dream left them to it winning by six-and-three-quarter lengths. It was the 4-year-old Bettor Delight entire’s 11th win in 25 starts and he’s now racked up $432,378 in stakes. He paid $1.50 to win.
Chase The Dream paced the 2700m mobile in 3:19.1 (mile rate 1:58.6) with final 800m and 400m sprints of 57.4 and 28.6.
“He felt extra today and the mobile suited him better this time. Once he got to the front I thought he would take a bit of beating.
“I’ll probably line him up on New Year’s Eve at Alexandra Park and then he will head to Australia for perhaps a couple of Country Cup races. He’s already qualified for the Chariots Of Fire,” said driver Purdon who will be spending Christmas with his sister Suzanne and her husband Tony Herlihy (MNZM) at Ardmore.
Meanwhile, South Auckland reinsman Sailesh Abernethy notched up his 150th career win when steering the Todd Mitchell trained Mighty Sunny to win the fourth event – a R50 to R90 and claiming special for the 4-year-old and older trotters.
The 5-year-old Sundon mare was the eighth favourite in the 13-horse field and won by almost eight lengths. She paid $21.50 to win.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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