Queensland harness racing wrap

Catch up on the week’s harness racing action in our weekly review, thanks to Darren Clayton

THE GOOD

(Art Major) remains undefeated after the two-year-old filly added a feature race victory to her resume following an all the way win in Saturday’s Changeover Classic at Albion Park.

Trained by Chantal Turpin and driven by Pete McMullen, it was a strong win by the filly after pressing hard off the gate to find the front.

Running through the first quarter in 29 seconds, McMullen was able to maintain an even pace with a 30.3 second quarter followed by a 29.9 split down the back straight.

Turning for home, Iron Clad who had been outside the leader from the 1100, had loomed up while Checknoutthetalent aimed up to take a shot via the passing lane.

However, Rylee Rhayne Bow had a kick and pulled clear over the concluding stages to score by 3.5 metres over Iron Clad who was brave in defeat for Grant Dixon, with Chantal Turpin taking the reins aboard the stablemate of the winner to hold third with Checknoutthetalent.

RYLEE RHAYNE BOW REPLAY

Owned and bred by long-time Turpin stable client Ross Patrick, the filly is the first foal out of the former talented mare Argyle Beach.

Purchased as a two-time winner out of New Zealand by Patrick, Argyle Beach would go on to claim a further 18 victories for Turpin and take a career PB at Menangle when stopping the clock in 1.52.1.

Rylee Rhayne Bow could now set up a clash with More Sass which had also put together three successive victories to start her career, in the upcoming QBRED Breeders Classic.

Victory in the two-year-old feature was the final leg of a treble for the Turpin-McMullen team, having claimed wins earlier in the night with Mr Mclaren (Mach Three) and Blacksadance (A Rocknroll Dance).

Mr Mclaren was impressive in scoring an all the way victory, highlighted by a slick closing quarter of 26.6, giving owner Patrick a winning double for the night.

Claiming victory last week in a new career best of 1.53.1, the five-year-old did it easily to stop the clock in 1.54.6 on Saturday.

The middle leg of the stable treble came courtesy of the Albion Park track record holder Blacksadance, which resumed in fine style with a thumping win on the front end over the 2138 metre trip.

Sent forward soon after the start, Blacksadance was able to pinch a very steady 61 second opening half.

Turning down the back, McMullen allowed the six-year-old to slide and the gelding responded with a 27.6 third split, before ripping home in 26.4 to claim a comfortable first up win.

BLACKSADANCE REPLAY

The winning treble was the second of the week for the stable, having put together three winners at The Creek on Tuesday.

With the strong week, Turpin moved to 62 winners for the season to date, seven wins adrift of Grant Dixon who leads the state premiership with 69.

Turpin is in command of the metropolitan trainer’s premiership with her 27 wins putting her nine wins clear of Shane Graham.

McMullen has now moved ahead of Brendan Barnes in the state driver’s premiership with 64 wins, as Nathan Dawson maintains his mammoth lead, currently on 140 for the season.

Meanwhile the metropolitan driver’s race is a much tighter affair, with Saturday’s treble lifting McMullen to 18 victories, just two wins behind Dawson who leads the race on 20.

THE BAD

If better health and father time were perhaps a little kinder, Denis Smith might still be training horses, and might just have trained another winner on Friday night at Albion Park.

However, circumstances are different, and it was a trotter named Dextrous Dexter (My High Expectations), formerly trained by Smith, which claimed the first three-year-old only trot race to be held in Queensland this season.

The gelding raced twice in his two-year-old season for Smith, finishing out of the money on both occasions before returning this term under the care of Alanah Richardson.

With three solid performances from the standing start, which included a second placing on April 18, Friday night saw Dextrous Dexter having his first start under mobile start conditions.

Starting from the widest gate of the four runners, Dextrous Dexter was able to get past the race favourite Mix It Up which made an error soon after the start and take control of the race with 1200 metres to travel.

Trotting cleanly throughout, driver Adam Richardson was able to rate the gelding perfectly through the last 800 metres, pulling clear to record an effortless victory.

Holding on for second was the Joedy Whitaker trained, and Leonard Cain driven Uwohali, while Brendan Barnes took the reins aboard third placed Waiting For A Mate for his father Al.

The winning mile rate of 2.02.6 was just 0.3 seconds outside the class record for a three-year-old over the mobile 1660 metre journey, held but Justabitnoisy which has stood for nearly 8 years.

THE WILDCARD

With his annual winter pilgrimage to Queensland in full swing, visiting trainer Chris Frisby claimed the first winning double of his 2023 sojourn.

A full brother to Frisby’s former star pacer Our Uncle Sam, it was four-year-old gelding Our Uncle Les (Sportswriter) that was the first leg of the wining double, scoring the second win of his career.

Easing across from gate 6 to settle in the running line, driver Nathan Dawson moved three-wide at the 400 to track Whata Terror into the race.

Turing for home, they paired off and it was Our Uncle Les that was able to do best in the run to the judge, claiming a narrow head margin on the wire.

It was the second career victory for Our Uncle Les, as he set a new best winning rate with the 1.55.9 victory.

OUR UNCLE LES REPLAY

One race later and Frisby was back in the winner’s enclosure, this time with Mat Neilson taking the reins aboard five-year-old gelding, Major Holiday.

It was a welcome change of luck for Major Holiday that had drawn wide in three prior starts since making the trip North.

Making the most of barrier 1, Neilson had the gelding in front soon after the start and was never headed to claim victory by over five metres.

Similarly to his stablemate the race prior, It was the second career victory for the Art Major gelding after 22 starts, the five-year-old setting a new career best of 1.57.3 with the victory.

With Jenden Strike scoring a Saturday night victory last week and Grove Dale also breaking through since arriving and other Constellation Carnival runners in He Aint Fakin and Uncle Miki possibly headed North, Frisby looks set for another enjoyable Winter.

THE MILESTONE

Lancelot Bromac has received plenty of attention in recent weeks as he surpassed 500 career starts, however, Bukthsystem has beaten him to a 2023 victory to become the oldest horse to win a race this season in Queensland.

Born twelve days before Lancelot Bromac, Bukthsystem was foaled on October 19, 2009, sired by P B Bullville, out of the Fake Left mare Tis A Fake.

Lining up for his sixth run back since resuming from a spell, Bukthsystem was able to win at Redcliffe on Sunday night, the veteran taking his career record to 24 wins from 294 starts, complemented by a further 70 minor placings.

Trained by Dudley Warburton, the 13-year-old gelding is owned by Warburton along with wife Carol, and Alan Newcombe.

Prior to beginning his racing career, the gelding threw Warburton out of the cart, resulting in the trainer sustaining fractures to his vertebrae and after that he was given the name Buk.

Not starting his career until late in his three-year-old season, it would take ‘Buk’ 28 starts until he finally claimed a maiden breaking victory, which came in his five-year-old term.

That win came on March 19, 2015, when Phil Chappenden took the reins and led throughout to score over the 1780 metre journey at Redcliffe.

The latest win was the veteran’s 17th at Redcliffe, moving to eighth on the all-time list for most wins on The Triangle, with his 227 starts at the track putting him third behind Viking Jack and Weasel for most Redcliffe appearances.

THIS WEEK

A quieter week ahead in Queensland with five race meetings to be conducted.

It will however be a different format to the regular, with Albion Park resurfacing works making The Creek unavailable for Tuesday’s meeting.

That will see Redcliffe host a ten-race card on Tuesday afternoon along with their regular Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon timeslots.

Albion Park is scheduled to be back in action for Friday’s night meeting before the metropolitan fixture on Saturday night.

by Darren Clayton, for Racing Queensland