In-form team ready for a big 24 hours

Jarrod Alchin will experience the busiest 24 hours of his career over the next few days with the Menangle harness racing trainer having six runners engaged at three different venues across two states.

Two of his pacers will race at Newcastle tonight while the others are in Queensland.

Two of those will race at Albion Park tonight and the other two contest races at Redcliffe tomorrow evening.

“This is certainly a first for me,” said Alchin.

“I have had a lot of success in the past travelling horses interstate but this weekend we are all over the place.

“We have quite a number of promising pacers that need to be placed to give them every opportunity to perform at their best.

“We have been lucky to have acquired a lot of talented stock and they deserve their chance to contest good races, which obviously means we need to travel with them.

“Each year we plan a working holiday in Queensland, but I have had to send the team up earlier with my good mate Anthony Deep due to some suitable races coming up earlier than anticipated.”

A strong 10-race program at Newcastle tonight kicks off with the Tab Venue Mode Pace and the Alchin-trained Our Ultimate Lizzy (Sweet Lou) is favoured to win the race.

The talented three-year-old has a challenging gate-10 draw over the 1609m trip but she does appear to have a class edge over her rivals.

“Lizzy is a very nice filly,” said Alchin.

“She has had her fair share of problems to date, but I feel that I have sorted them out and she will be hard to beat tonight, despite the awkward draw.”

The second of Alchin’s runners, My Ultimate Johnny (Sweet Lou) will contest the PSC Insurance Brokers Pace (Race 3).

Formerly trained in New Zealand by Gavin Smith, the gelding is having his first Australian start for Alchin.

From three starts, My Ultimate Johnny has a win and two second placings to his credit.

The well-bred three-year-old has a tough assignment first-up but Alchin is confident he will handle himself well.

“Tonight’s race is a hard one first-up,” he said.

“But from his favorable gate one draw I feel things could pan out well for him.

“He is definitely one to watch out for in his future racing.”

For complete Newcastle fields, click here.

by Michael Dumesny, for HRNSW