Aladdin story moves to Mildura

Experienced Victorian harness racing trainer Greg Norman, who does an outstanding job with his team is putting his magic to the test tomorrow night.

The former South Australian, now based at Charlton in Central Victoria, trained 26 winners and 42 placings in last season’s extended racing season, and this year he has eight wins and five placings so far, for a top three strike rate of 46 percent.

But he admits there’s likely to be a few nerves when his brilliant newcomer, a Kiwi youngster named Aladdin, steps out in one of the feature events of the Mildura Pacing Cup carnival-the $14,000 Tankard Dental Guineas.

Aladdin (Sweet Lou-Pacing Delight (Bettors Delight) is raced by prominent Adelaide owners Adam, Ben and Terry Cormack. They finalised the purchase of the pacer just ahead of his New Year’s Eve appearance in New Zealand’s richest race for colts and geldings, the inaugural $200,000 Listed NZB Standardbred Harness Million final.

Courtesy of a perfectly timed drive by Tim Williams, Aladdin sprinted up the inside to beat his stablemate Shan Noble in an exciting finish to the rich listed race. (At the time, both horses were prepared by champion trainers Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen, who then changed the course of their careers by stepping away from the sport).

“The boys bought him on the Wednesday and he won on the Saturday, so he’s been a good buy already,” Norman said.

“He had a few runs since then before he came over here, but the pressure is on me now!”

Aladdin arrived at Charlton with a record of four wins and seven placings from his 17 New Zealand starts for prize money of $155,789. Before being bought by the Cormacks, the pacer had been raced by prominent Melbourne owners Jean and Bill Feiss, who bought him for $140,000 from the Woodlands Stud draft at the 2019 National Standardbred Yearling Sale.

“I’ve only had him a couple of weeks, but everything he’s done so far does indicate that he’s a nice little horse, intelligent, well-mannered and keen,” Norman said.

“He’s only a little fellow, but he can obviously run a bit! On paper he looks good, but we still have to win here in Australia, and we still have to win at Mildura,” he said.

Aladdin comes with a big reputation and is blessed with plenty of early speed, which he may need from his extreme outside draw in barrier six in the Mildura Guineas.

Norman said while he was quietly confident in his new charge’s ability, there were still question marks over the Guineas.

“It’s a good money race, a field of handy horses and a tight little track,” he said.

“He’s done all his racing on the big, spacious New Zealand tracks, so getting around Mildura will obviously be the key.

“We have been working him on a half-mile track here at Charlton, though, and he seems to handle it alright.”

Norman, who moved from South Australia to Charlton in 2019, heads to Mildura with a handy team of five for cup night.

Apieceoflou has qualified for the $10,000 Euston Club Pace Final, Cee Cee in America is a starter in the $25,000 Tenderprint Australia Cup Final and fast-class performer Zadaka narrowly missed qualifying for the Mildura Pacing Cup final, and will start in the $10,000 Wilkie Building Contractors Free For All.

“It’s always a fantastic night of racing and we had a good night on Tuesday, so we just hope it continues,” he said.

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Terry Gange

NewsAlert PR Mildura