Time works wonders

Touch wood, Lisa Miles’ sometimes problem child Powderkeg may just be starting to show his best self.

Ahead of his tilt at the Doug Hayes Transport Trot at Tabcorp Park Melton on Saturday night, his trainer/driver dared to consider her talented four-year-old was making the leap long thought in his future.

“He’s required a lot of time. He’s not the easiest horse to get along with, he’s got a mind of his own, he’s a stallion,” Miles told Toby McKinnon on today’s SEN Track Trots Life.

“Whenever you think you’ve got him right he will throw you a curve ball and present something else for you to figure out.

“He’s racing better horses at the moment, he’s racing well and – touch wood, touch wood – he’s behaving himself, so we can only go with what we’ve got at the moment.”

A Vicbred Super Series Group 1 winner in just his third career start at age two, Powderkeg has been first past the post in nine of his 43 starts but there have also been his fair share of miss-steps and instances where stewards noted he’d “began badly”.

But an impressive victory from the breeze in the Group 2 Breeders Crown championships two runs back continued the good recent form that’s seen him finish in the first four in all of his last eight starts.

After chasing millionaire pacer Tornado Valley when fourth last start he drops back to the 75-100 national rating class Saturday night.

“We picked this race weeks ago because it was capped at the 100, so it gives us a bit of a chance to miss Tornado Valley and the likes,” Miles said.

Continued good performances may well have the team daring to dream of being back in the Group 1 hunt before long and Miles may well look towards the Inter Dominion Trotting Championship for inspiration.

With the series returning to Victoria next year she can dare to dream.

“Definitely, I think that’s right up his alley,” she said. “The racing close together would suit him. He thrives on hard work and hard racing, and a long distance final would suit him down to the ground too.

“But time will tell. Hopefully we get there. If he can behave himself and keep it together between now and then that would be really great for the team.”

To view fields for Melton on Saturday click here.

HEAR FROM LISA MILES ON TROTS LIFE: 

By Michael Howard for HRV