The Cremorne Hotel in Unley will be jumping on Tuesday night, as a group of local owners cheer on their filly in a heat of the lucrative Australasian Breeders Crown at Ballarat.
Led by the horses part-owner Bruce Cameron, the syndicate leases a two-year-old filly by the name of Celebrity Ball and are making the most of their chances after missing out on a share in quality youngster Secret Life a few years ago.
“When I put the first syndicate together there was a reserve list that missed out on racing Secret Life, the reserve list were then offered Celebrity Ball to race which now looks as though the wait has certainly been worthwhile,” Cameron said.
Worthwhile indeed, with the freshman filly winning three of her first five starts. Her latest effort was a win in a heat of the Breeders Crown which secured a position in Tuesday nights Semi-Finals at Ballarat and hopefully a spot in the $305,000 Australasian Breeders Crown Final at the same track on Sunday week.
Celebrity Ball, trained and driven by Australia’s top reinswoman Kerryn Manning, has a quality pedigree being out of top producing mare Larrakeyah Lady which makes her a half sister to SA and A. G. Hunter Cup winner Safe And Sound.
Tuesday nights Ballarat program should not be missed by any harness racing enthusiasts with the best young horses in the Southern Hemisphere competing in eight semi-finals for a chance to take part in
Babe On Track
Penfield trainer David Smith breathed a sigh of relief when two-year-old filly Bridal Track Babe finally cracked it for a win in the John Rothe Video Pace at Globe Derby on Friday night with just weeks remaining in her debut season.
Bridal Track Babe, bred and owned by former Member of Parliament Ron Roberts, was having her 15th start and the breakthrough win in a rate of 2:05.4 comes after placing in eight of her previous 14 efforts.
Following a string of five fast-finishing placings, the daughter of Jet Laag used her customary late burst to run away from her rivals, including placegetters Loadedbelle and Take To Pledge, after a tough final lap when heading the three-wide line.
Bridal Track Babe would have been a chance in the Alabar Southern Cross final three weeks ago had she gained a run, but unfortunately a tenth placing in an initial heat damaged her points tally for the series and a third and fourth in later qualifiers couldn’t secure a berth.
Whisky Puts Spring in Keightley’s Step
On Friday night at Globe Derby Park Two Wells trainer Graham Keightley prepared a winner for the first time since SA Oaks night in February 2001. Mind you, since then Keightley has only harness up 43 runners.
On that occasion Barry Ewen piloted Athlos to victory and it was Ewen in the sulky again seven and a half years later, partnering Whisky Spring to an all the way win at headquarters on Friday night.
Whiskey Spring, a former New South Wales trained pacer, arrived in SA two months ago with a record of just three minor placings from 18 starts, but has put in some honest efforts in four starts for Keightley since debuting for the stable in early July.
On Friday night Barry Ewen worked Whisky Spring to the lead from barrier three and fought off pressure from eventual runner-up and race favourite Pierre Peitou to fight on strongly and record the victory in a rate of 2:05.8 for the 2230-metre journey.
Harding Does It Again
David Harding, by driving a quartet at the
Despite pairing with the favourite in each of the first three races on Saturday night’s ten-race card, Harding could only manage to register three second placings before kick-starting his night by upsetting the odds-on favourite in the fourth race.
Piloting Kiwi-bred five-year-old Deep Pockets in his first real crack at open class racing, Harding allowed Garry Butler to take the lead on $1.60 favourite Touch Of Pearl and waited patiently for his run to come late in the race. That run presented itself just as the field straightened for home, with
Deep Pockets has only finished outside the placings on five occasion in 32 starts for Les and David Harding.
Later in the evening Harding partnered Larachelle to her fifth straight victory – and tenth in 11 starts for Joe Buttigieg – then equalled his 2005-2006 record of 170 wins for a South Australian reinsman when he led all the way in the trot with Some Glory for Lance Holberton.
However, the night was far from finished and Harding recorded win number 171 in the last event on the program with a confident drive aboard Fake Dunbar. Fake Dunbar, a seven-year-old gelded son of Fake Left, was having his first start for Ray Fewings and started favourite despite not winning for nearly 12 months.
Harding has been aided in his last two record seasons by incurring just one suspension and has also avoided time out through injury. The latter point was brought home a few weeks ago when David’s brother Matthew was involved in a serious fall at
Eight further meetings are programmed for
Eastern Raiders
South Australians performed well at Mildura last Friday, with five horses making the trip and three returning home as winners from the afternoon program.
Golden Grove reinsman Tony Calabria scored a double with Chriscott for Neil Cavallaro and Assert for Peter Sergi, while earlier in the day Zed continued his good recent form with an impressive win for
The other two SA runners were Gunbarrel Straight, who finished third after meeting with some interference on the home turn, and Sheez Maid Magic who ran eighth in the same event.
At
Perfect Lignum has shown superior toughness in her two
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HRSA Ltd
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