Well done: Courtney Laker gives Curly James a kiss for providing her with her first win as a trainer.
You can’t start your training career much better than Courtney Laker has.
The 19-year-old Shepparton horsewoman had her first starter, Curly James, as a trainer at last Saturday night’s Melton meeting and he did the right thing by her — led from pillar to post.
Driven by David Moran, Curly James was having his first start since April and peeled off a sizzling PB 1:51.3 mile rate for the 1720m trip to notch his 10th win.
Laker and her family bought the pacer as a yearling and he has some impressive relatives.
Laker has taken over the training reins of Curly James from Moran, a prominent Shepparton trainer she has been working for for three years.
Trotting though has always been in her blood with the stalwart trots Mifsud family in her family tree.
Laker has a race at Melton next week on the five-year-old Rocknroll Dance gelding’s radar and the Kilmore Pacing Cup is also a possibility.
Shepparton horseman Nathan Jack’s recent hot run of success continued into the Shepparton Trotters Cup meeting last Friday night where he had four winning drives.
One of the winners was in the Abrahams Two-Year-Old Trotters Classic in which he produced Violet Stanford whom he trains and drives.
The daughter of Volstead was returning from a spell and made it three wins from three starts with her victory.
She had won the Home Grown Classic final at her previous start in May after winning a heat of the series at her first start.
It was a popular win as Violet Stanford was supported into an odds-on favourite.
The finish was a ripsnorter with Violet Stanford fighting it out with two other unbeaten rivals, the John Newberry-trained Nordic Reign and the Brent Lilly-prepared Kyvalley Michael, who were both big in defeat.
Jack had Violet Stanford in the one-one sit for most of the 2190m trip and had to fight hard to get the better of the Matt Newberry-driven Nordic Reign, who set the pace in the race.
While Violet Stanford was expected to win one of Jack’s other winners certainly wasn’t.
Elmore-trained Madam Reactor caused a major upset in the second leg of the main quaddie when she saluted at odds of 80/1 with Jack in the sulky.
Trained by Frank Barac, Madam Reactor was given the run of the race by Jack, who settled the six-year-old Auckland Reactor mare three back on the pegs before getting her into clear running in the home stretch where she went on to account for the Connor Crook-trained and James Herbertson-driven Alwaysalady.
Jack said it was the second longest priced winner he had driven in his career.
“I drove a pacer called Tex Goes Bang to win when he was a 150/1 shot,’’ Jack said.
Madam Reactor’s win broke a run of 15 starts out of the winner’s circle and she has now won eight of her 81 starts with 23 minor placings.
Jack’s other winners in his quartet of winning drives were on the Ross Graham-trained Major Manbar and the Wayne Potter-prepared Spyglass.
Spyglass, a three-year-old Sweet Lou gelding, was having only his fourth start and has now won two of them.
Trainer Chris Lang prepared the trifecta in the feature event at Shepparton, the $30,000 Saddleworld Shepparton Trotters Cup.
But punters weren’t on the mark with the least fancied of the trio, Bullion Harry, upstaging his stablemates, Courage Stride and the $2 favourite Ollivici.
Driver John Caldow maintained a solid pace on Bullion Harry who led and held all his rivals at bay in the run to the judge.
A five-year-old son of Muscle Hill, Bullion Harry has now won 12 of his 38 starts and has pocketed over $168,000 in prizemoney.
Kiwi visitor High Energy claimed the Saddleworld Shepparton Trotters Oaks courtesy of a top drive from Greg Sugars.
The Mark and Nathan Purdontrained daughter of Father Patrick was given the run of the race by Sugars who made a winning move to an inside passage in the home straight and then working home strongly to account for the Chris Lang-trained Glamour Stride with the Mark Lee-trained and Stacey Towers-driven Focus getting home hard to nab third place.
Harry rewards Laura
Byrneside-trained trotter Hadtobeharry wasn’t supposed to race again, so it was a win worth savouring when he saluted at Shepparton.
Trainer Laura Crossland was told two years ago a suspensory ligament injury had ended his career, but she didn’t share the vet’s advice.
‘‘They have been wrong before, so I put him in the paddock for two years and I gave him a long preparation for his return,’’ Crossland said.
‘‘He was huge when I first got him back and I’ve been working him since March to give him every chance. He’s a lovely horse.’’
A five-year-old son of Majestic Son, Hadtobeharry actually completed successive wins when he mowed down his rivals at Shepparton.
The five-year-old Majestic Son gelding had saluted on July 28 at Melton when making his return from the spelling paddock.
He settled last at Shepparton and was still there with 500m to run when his driver Damian Wilson asked the question.
It was answered with a strong finishing burst which carried Hadtobeharry to a tight win over the Brent Lilly-trained You Really Got Me.
Hadtobeharry has had only five starts so should provide more joy yet for connections if he stays sound.
Handy pacing mare Presidentslastlady returned to the winners’ list at Shepparton to notch her eighth win.
Driver Stacey Towers gave the seven-year-old Auckland Reactor mare the run of the race on the back of the pacemaker and took the sprint lane home to swamp her rivals.
Trained by Mark Lee, Presidentslastlady was bred and is owned by the Towers family which made the win all the more enjoyable.
While it was her first win since saluting at Shepparton on May 17, Presidentslastlady’s subsequent runs had produced six top five finishes from six starts, so she thoroughly deserved her win.
Star Rochester-trained trotting filly Shesawish completed successive wins and took her record to five wins from nine starts when she saluted in a feature race at Melton last Saturday night.
Driven by Anthony Butt, Shesawish led from start to finish to claim the time-honoured VHRC Caduceus Holmfield, a race named after Echuca trots stalwart and prominent owner, the late Harry Holmfield.
Coming off a win at her previous start in the Aldebaran Trotters Oaks at Maryborough on July 24, the three-year-old daughter of Wishing Stone led throughout in her latest win, accounting for the favourite Our Locomotive and Aldebaran Miley in slick 1:57.1 mile rate time over the 1720m trip.
Shesawish has already banked $72,490 in stakemoney with the potential to build considerably on this total.
Neville Pangrazio trains Shesawish for his wife Louise and her father Mal Shaw.
Pacer Hello I Tea continued his rise to prominence at last week’s Charlton meeting, securing his fifth win in eight starts for Rochester trainer Mark Thompson.
Prior to joining the Thomspon barn the four-year-old son of Guaranteed had not won in 46 trips to the races.
In his latest win reinswoman Ellen Tormey took Hello I Tea straight to the front and was never in danger of being run down in another impressive performance.
Apart from the five wins Hello I Tea has also finished runner-up in two of his races for Thompson.
Hello I Tea is out of the Peace Of Art mare Witchwaywendy who was an eight times winner.
Another winner from the district at Charlton was Nathan Jack who piloted the Anton Golino-trained Love You three-year-old Belle Neige to her first win at her third start.
Harston horseman Dennis Paton produced Lizzies Son for his second win this week at Yarra Valley.
The Majestic Son three-year-old finished strongly over the last 400m to account for Kyvalley Anthony and the Ryan Duffy-trained and driven Nuclear Attitude
Lizzies Son was having only his third start after a year on the sidelines, but had shown his ability with a win and two placings as a two-year-old.
He is the fifth foal to win from the unraced Sierra Kosmos mare Sheza Comment, who is also the dam of Millys Magic who boasts 19 wins, 18 of these in South Australia, the talented Sheza Pleasure (nine wins) and Lord Lohki (10 wins).
Memories of one Australia’s greatest trotters Scotch Notch have been revived with the death last week of former Shepparton businessman Jim Wong in Queensland.
Wong, 96, owned Scotch Notch, a household name in trotting in the 1980s who was recently installed to Legend status in the Victorian Harness Racing Hall of Fame,
Prepared by Graeme Lang, Scotch Notch won two Inter Dominion Trotting Championships and was a three-times Australian Trotter of the Year who raced the world’s best in America.
She finished her racing days in America with 65 wins and earnings of $670,755.
In his days as a Shepparton businessman who owned Wong’s World Wong was president of the Shepparton Trotting Club in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Another district passionate trots owner who recently died was Murray McGill who raced many pacers over the years with his sons including the Group One winner Grinnersawinner, prepared by Kyabram trainer Mick Blackmore, who won the Vicbred series as a two-year-old.
Coming up
Today: Melton (d), Mildura (n)
Tomorrow: Melton (n)
Sunday: Cranbourne (d)
Monday: Maryborough (d)
Tuesday: Geelong (n)
Wednesday: Hamilton (d), Echuca (n)
Thursday: Bendigo (n)
