Feature win another feather in the cap

A successful combination from yesteryear—trainer Tony Peacock and driver Brian Gath—took centre stage at Cobram yesterday with another feature win.

The pair teamed up with smart five-year-old mare Illawong Stardust (Muscle Hill-Lunar Landing (Sundon) to claim the $30,000 Group Two Central Murray Credit Union Trotters Cup.

“We’ve been friends for a long time and it’s nice to see Brian in such great form again. He was quick to sum the race up and the horse did the rest,” Peacock, of Moama, near Echuca, said.

It was the third time Peacock has captured a Cup victory at Cobram—he drove Kaka Point Cracker himself to a Pacing Cup triumph in 2006 before teaming with Damian Wilson in 2015 to take out the Trotting feature with Irish Whisper.

“Illawong Stardust is a lovely horse and I think she can keep improving with more racing. I spoke with her owner Kaye Hartnett after the win and she was very happy,” Peacock said.

“We might look at the Shepparton FFA next Saturday night which is close to home and then probably put her away for the Great Southern Star at Melton next month,” he said.

Illawong Stardust, who showed her toughness in gallant efforts in the gruelling 2021 InterDom series, most notably an eye-catching fifth in the final to Māori Law, and looks potentially well suited to the Great Southern Star format. The $300,000 Great Southern Star on February 4 is one of Australia’s richest trotting features and is a heat and final format run on the same program.

Peacock said he had been pleased with the trotter’s leadup form to Cobram, with two Melton placings in top company.

“Her work at home has been terrific and she’s really trained on from the Sydney campaign,” Peacock said.

“Brian certainly made the best move when he went around early to take the lead in the Cup. He was probably always going to do that because I know he had it in his mind pre-race. She can tough it out if that’s how it pans out.”

While Illawong Stardust settled down near the rear after Gath was super careful in letting her balance up and find her rhythm, the race favorite Humble Ladd (Alex Ashwood) lost all chance with a bad getaway.

He was at least 60metres off the field at one stage and his effort to be beaten by 26 metres was huge.

Illawong Stardust won by two metres from Well Defined (who was runner-up last year to Havehorsewilltravel) with the Andy Gath-trained trotter Scallywag Sam filling third spot.

The Jim Phillips Memorial Cobram Pacing Cup, of $35,000, was won by Boots Electric (Somebeachsomewhere-Glenburn Jewel (Live Or Die). Raced under the ‘Stride’ ownership banner of leviathan owners Emilio and Mary Rosati, the gelding was well rated by Leigh Sutton for trainer Russell Jack.

Peacock and his partner Shelley have 20 horses in work as well at least a dozen yearlings which are being prepared for coming sales.

The former successful boxer had a brush with death just before Christmas of 2017 when he was catapulted from the sulky while working a youngster at home. He landed on his head, with the impact breaking his neck between his c2 and C3 vertebrae.

Peacock makes no secret that he gained inspiration from reading a book titled “When The Dust Settled”, written by Queenslander Rob Cook who was injured in a helicopter crash. Rob was a passenger and dislocated his c4 vertebrae in the accident, leaving him paralysed from the shoulders down.

But Rob refused to give up on the dream of cattle farming at Bucca near Bundaberg and uses voice controls to operate his computer and operates hydraulic computer-controlled cattle yards by twitching a muscle in his bicep.

The pair later met when Peacock travelled to the far northern Queensland beaches on holidays and he considers himself fortunate with how he was to be able to recover from his injuries.

“I still get a bit of a stiff neck, but I also know how lucky I was. I had to do a lot of rehabilitation and it was close friends and those in the harness racing sport that got me through,” he said.

By Terry Gange for Harnesslink