Another Dale wins for Green and Keeler

Tisbury harness racing trainer Kirstin Green and Millers Flat owner Bill Keeler go a long way back and today at Ascot Park they continued their winning relationship when Elouisa Dale (Sir Lincoln) won for the partnership.

“Bill’s been so good to me over the years. Early on he’d lease me horses, send them over broken in and all the work had been done. His assessment of them was always spot on and we’ve made a bit of money selling them. He’s a great horseman and you always learn something from one of his conversations,” Green said.

The lightly raced mare was in the form of her career leading into today’s Daryl Burgess Masonry Mobile Pace with a win, a second and a third in her form line.

“Early on she was a little bit in and out with her form. I just think she was a bit weak, and she’s now turned a corner. She’s always had speed and now she’s keeping it.”

It was clear that Elouisa Dale was on the job today as she got a full head of steam in her preliminary.

“I think she was a bit grass affected. She got a bit silly in the prelim. I shifted the horses to a different paddock a couple of days ago. I didn’t think the paddock had much grass in it, but she’s been shitting like a dairy cow all day. Lesson learnt.”

Blasting out of the gate from barrier five Barclay took Elouisa Dale straight to the lead before handing up to Sonny Maguire (Art Major) with just over a lap to run.

Coming down the straight Amass (Terror To Love) who had been sitting three back on the inside began to get on the job, but ran out of room to get a clear run at the leaders. He was proving a handful for trainer driver Nathan Williamson and ran into the back of Elouisa Dale before running to the inside of the track.

ELOUISA DALE REPLAY

“It was a very good effort for my horse to win. Fillies don’t like getting a knock like that. For a second I thought I was gone when Nathan’s horse was coming in. Normally they keep coming in but luckily when he hit me, he came off me a bit.”

Elouisa Dale’s winning margin over Sonny Maguire (Art Major) was a head at the finish.

For complete race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart for Harnesslink