Photo: Gregor Mactaggart
Impressive: Fantasy Beach, with Jeff Gledhill in the sulky, powers away to win at Echuca on Wednesday night.
The Nathan Jack driving juggernaut reached a new dizzy height at Maryborough’s Vicbred Super Series meeting on Monday.
Jack claimed a personal best five winners in the sulky in the two and three-year-old trotters heats of the series.
One of his winners, Violet Stanford, who claimed a two-yearold fillies heat, he trains himself.
The win left the Volstead filly unbeaten after four runs.
Jack’s other winners were Preferred Love (two-year-old fillies), The Locomotive and Gotfeelingsyouknow (threeyear-old colts and geldings) and Shesawish (three-year-old filles).
The Locomotive, trained by Avenel horseman Wayne Potter, spreadeagled his rivals in his first win as a three-year-old at his fourth try.
He had finished runner-up at his previous two starts and was too slick for his rivals in a bold front-running role.
The Locomotive also produced the quickest mile rate of 2:00.3 for the 2190m trip with three-year-old filly Shesawish the next quickest at 2:00.7.
Trained at Rochester by Neville Pangrazio, Shesawish completed a hat-trick of wins with her victory, having scored in feature events at Maryborough and Melton at her previous two starts.
In the Melton win she accounted for The Locomotive in the $30,000 Holmfield Classic.
Shesawish brought up win number 2230 for Jack and prizemoney earnings of more than $18.6 million.
Tatura north trainer David Abrahams produced a winner at Maryborough claiming a three-yearold fillies heat of the Vicbred series with Rapid Return.
Driven by Tayla French Rapid Return had turns of leading in the run and was able to comfortably hold out the hot favourite, the Emma Stewart-prepared and Mark Pittdriven Susan Is Her Name, who was responsible for a massive run after breaking early.
By Orlando Vic, Rapid Return was having her ninth start and has now won three races and a second.
She is out of the Muscle Mass mare Nieta who won nine of 24 starts and placed in the NSW Trotters Oaks in 2017.
Rapid Return is her only foal. Rapid Return’s winning 2:00.9 mile rate was the third quickest of the meeting which further enhanced the performance of the runner-up, a filly by Sebastian K, who started her racing career in Queensland.
Another district winner in the heats of Vicbred Super Series was Little Miss Lily who claimed a threeyear-old pacing fillies heat at Ballarat last week.
And it was more than just the average win.
Trained by Shepparton’s Patrick Ryan and driven by Damian Wilson, Little Miss Lily sat parked outside the pacemaker Windy Hill Tara for the entire trip and still had the audacity to have her head in front at the finishing line in a crowded finish.
A daughter of the great Lennytheshark, Little Miss Lily was having her first start since a
an ill-fated Queensland campaign and probably needed the hit-out which made her win all the more creditable.
To gauge the significance of her win the filly she sat outside in the run was the Steve Turnbull-trained and Amanda Turnbull-driven Windy Hill Tara who won the NSW Oaks earlier this year.
Leading trainer Emma Stewart scooped all three Vicbred heats for four-year-old mares last week at Shepparton.
One of the winners Amore Vita, driven by Chris Alford, smashed the track record for 2190m with a scorching 1:52.3 mile rate which included a 55.1 last half.
Stewart got the quinella in this heat with Petillante, driven by Mark Pitt, finishing second with the Nathan Jack-trained and driven Just Hope filling the minor placing.
Pitt then drove the next two fouryear-old mares heat winners Soho Historia and Major Grace, but neither got anywhere near the time Amore Vita produced.
Two of the three winners in the Vicbred heats for four-year-old entires and geldings — Eyethink and Hot Deal — were trained and driven by Horsham horseman Aaron Dunn, while the other heat was claimed by the Andy Gath-trained and Jordan Leedham-driven Solesseo Matuca.
A fast getaway set up a win for locally-trained pacer New Yorker at Shepparton.
Reinswoman and co-trainer Bec Bartley speared New Yorker .straight to the front from barrier five and was never seriously tackled for the lead, safely keeping all rivals at bay in the run to the judge.
New Yorker was having only his seventh outing for the Bartley-Steve O’Donoghue training team and has now won two races and been placed third three times in those starts.
A five-year-old son of Bettors Delight, New Yorker was formerly trained by NSW horsewoman Belinda McCarthy who secured three wins with the pacer.
Three-year-old pacer Rocknroll Kiss made an impressive winning debut for Avenel trainer Wayne Potter at Shepparton.
Reinsman Nathan Jack made his move on the Rock N Roll Heaven three-year-old gelding 800m from the judge and he sustained a solid finishing burst to beat the Steve Duffy-trained and Codi Rauchenberer-driven Lilli Bet with Orions Wildlife filling the minor placing.
Rocknroll Kiss is out of the Modern Art mare Allnight Kiss, a winner of 11 races who has left other winners in Three Smoochas (five wins) and Treacherous Kiss (six wins).
Ardmona trainer-driver Donna Castles had a couple of fruitful days last week with winners at Maryborough on Wednesday and Shepparton the following night.
At Maryborough Castles produced talented trotting mare Berriesandcherries for her eighth win.
Third last at the bell over the short 1690m trip, the six-year-old daughter of Crazed put in a solid run over the last 800m to account for Sosomaori and Imperial Whiz with a PB 1:58.6 mile rate.
Bonny mare Dances ticked off win number 11 when she scored at Shepparton, her second straight win on the track his campaign.
The daughter of Bacardi Lindy had also scored on the track on August 15 and in her past seven starts has had top four finishes.
In her latest win Dances made the pace and defied all efforts to be run down, accounting for the fast-finishing David Aiken-trained and Chris Alford-driven Twixten by a head
with a long gap to the third placegetter, the Echuca-trained Partytime.
The seven-year-old has raced 95 times and apart from her 11 wins has had 28 minor placings including 22 seconds.
Her latest win took her prizemoney to more than $65,000.
The wins of Berriesandcherries and Dances followed up another of the Castles team of trotters Vita Leme’s recent win at Maryborough at her fourth start.
Aldebaran Park’s Danny and Mel Thackeray will be up early on Sunday to watch the trotter they have an ownership interest in, Aldebaran Zeus, tackle the $1 million International Trot at the Yonkers Raceway in New York.
The star trotter has not raced since a five-start New Zealand campaign which ended with a sixth placing in the Group One Rowe Cup at Alexandra Park on May 26.
The son of Muscle Hill boasts a record of 18 wins from 48 starts and $420 000 in prizemoney earnings.
Winners are grinners, but those pacers who missed a place in the inaugural $2.1 million The TAB Eureka at Menangle last Saturday night certainly didn’t return home empty handed.
Those pacers which finished fifth to 10th, including Sheppartontrained pacer Captain Hammerhead who came in ninth, still got $45,000 for competing.
The winner Encipher pocketed $1 million, second home and favourite Leap To Fame $400,000, third Captain Ravishing ($200,000) and fourth Magician ($100,000).
That’s money unheard of in this sport.
And apart from the win by the Emma Stewart-trained Encipher, the only mare in the race, the feat of sire Captaintreacherous was remarkable.
He had five of the 10 starters and produced the winner and the third placegetter.
District pacers Max Delight and Curly James will fly the flag for northern Victoria trainers in tomorrow night’s feature event at Melton.
They will contest the time-honoured Group Two $75,000 Caduceus Classic, but have not fared well in the draw.
Max Delight has drawn the outside of the front row and Curly James the outside of the back row (four out) in a short course 1720m dash, so will need a decent slice of luck.
The David Aiken-trained and driven Max Delight is lining up for his 91st start and is racing in good form, chasing home Bulletproof Boy at Melton last Saturday night in slick time.
Curly James is the pacer who provided his young Shepparton trainer Courtney Laker with her first training success with her first horse to race when he saluted at Melton two weeks ago.
District trainers got their share of the spoils on Wednesday night at Echuca.
Shepparton trainer Dave Farrar set the ball rolling for the locals with Kialla Kid who was driven to a tough win by Damian Wilson.
Craig Turnbull followed up with a win with Bet Sheza Lady, who was driven by his daughter Abbey.
Then Lisa Pitt struck with the Mark Pitt-driven trotter Van Doren who spaced his rivals.
Jeff Gledhill then produced consistent veteran pacer Fantasy Beach for his ninth win at his 165th start.
Monday: Warragul (d)
Tuesday: Shepparton (n)
Wednesday: Ballarat (n)
Thursday: Stawell (d), Kilmore (n)
