“Duke” makes a clean sweep in rich championship

Bendigo horseman Glenn Douglas is a glass-half-full kind of bloke – and, typically, that’s how he’s viewing his stable’s recent clean-sweep of the time-honoured Hygain Northern Region Championship.

New Zealand newcomer Duke of Dundee (A Rocknroll Dance-Bad Peach (Badlands Hanover) took out the $25,000 championship final at Swan Hill last Thursday after going back-to-back in the qualifying rounds, but he wouldn’t even have been in the series if all had gone to plan.

Eric and Heather Anderson purchased Duke Of Dundee and Khaki Nui (Big Jim-Nui Thi Vai (Falcons Icon) from New Zealand at the same time earlier this year, and Douglas said they thought both would win at their Australian race debuts at Shepparton on June 30.

“Khaki Nui did the job (the first of four consecutive wins), but Duke Of Dundee ran second, beaten a head-then afterwards, he couldn’t put one leg on the ground,” Douglas said.

“The vets couldn’t find a thing, so we decided he could have a bit of time off. Ironically, he came along as the replacement for a lovely horse we lost in Pembrook Charlie, who broke a pastern, and which we were all pretty down about,” he said.

Douglas said when they got Duke Of Dundee up and going, it just happened to be that the Northern Region Championship was approaching.

The three sister clubs of Victoria’s northwest region in Ouyen, Mildura and Swan Hill take turns each September to host two rounds of qualifying heats and then the rich final. Last week saw its 40th running with the final at Swan Hill.

“So the timing was perfect for Duke of Dundee when he was coming back, and we targeted him for that series. I suppose you could say that early bad luck ended up proving to be good luck,” he said.

“We always try and have a few runners in the Northern Region Championship. It’s worth good money and we’ve been lucky enough to win it a few times.

“We’re always trying to be at meetings up there. Eric loves the area because he lived up in Robinvale for quite a while and he enjoys nothing better than getting back, particularly to Mildura.”

Duke of Dundee started a warm favorite in the final following a runaway win in the opening round of heats at Ouyen (Sept 19) and then an easy win in qualifying divisions at Mildura (Sept 25) with Ellen Tormey the victorious driver each time.

“After the first heat, Ellen came back and told us she was staying on Duke Of Dundee. She was absolutely adamant that she was keeping the drive and her judgement turned out to be spot on,” Douglas said.

Eric and Heather Anderson have been one of the more successful ownership combinations in Australia over a long period of time. Their daughter Julie Douglas is currently heading the Victorian State Trainers’ premiership while Glenn enjoys his share of success in the sulky, along with other stable drivers Jack Laugher and Ellen Tormey.

“Both Ellen and Jack are driving very well, and I’m more than happy to just grab a drive here there and let them do the most of it nowadays,” Douglas said.

Ex-Tasmanian Laugher recently posted his 150th winner for 2021 and is enjoying the best-ever season in his short career. Up until a fortnight ago, he was the leading driver in Victoria, but a stint on the sidelines through suspension has seen the two “masters” in Greg Sugars (153 wins) and Chris Alford (151 wins) go past him.

Tormey, who is also having a career-best season, is seventh on the table with 87 wins and seems to be in reach of a notable career milestone in topping the century mark for the first time.

Julie Douglas, with 137 training wins for the season, has a 15-win buffer over Ballarat’s expert juvenile conditioner Emma Stewart.

Stewart posted five wins at Bendigo on Saturday night, including two wins in heats of the Oaks and another two in Derby heats.

“Hopefully the wins can keep ticking along for Julie because this is the time of the year that Emma really shines,” Glenn Douglas said.

“We’re all enjoying the run we’re having. But the sport is a great leveller as we all know. You can be on top of the world one minute, and then the next you’re scrubbing along kicking stones!”

By Terry Gange for Harnesslink