Imperial Monarch rules again

Imperial Monarch (Imperial Count), the horse with an insatiable thirst for the winning post, completed a hat trick of harness racing wins in APG Trot at Melton.

The Marg Lee prepared four-year-old made a mid-race move to sit outside the leader Watts Up Partytime and appeared set to run second behind that horse half way down the home straight.

As is his want, Imperial Monarch put his head down and aimed one final assault on the winning post inside the last 50 metres of the 2240 metre event.

"He refuses to get beat this horse!"
Imperial Monarch fought back to take out the APG Trot for Jason and Margaret Lee. pic.twitter.com/PQ16Ufr4VT

— The Trots (@TheTrotsComAu) June 8, 2024

Not surprisingly, Imperial Monarch ($5) got the verdict by a head on the line from Watts Up Partytime and Copacabana.

Imperial Monarch had similarly looked a beaten horse in his previous two wins at Melton and off a 40 metre back mark in the Tontine Championship Final at Terang.

Jason Lee, who took back the reins was suitably impressed with the winner.

“Glen (Craven) has been driving him a bit quieter and he’s been charging home but I just thought that tonight there’s no tempo, so I put him in the race,” Lee said.

“I didn’t get around the last corner great as he was just getting in a little bit, but he was just super.

It was quite exciting to be honest and I got a bit of a thrill out of that.”

Lee acknowledged the legacy of the recent upgrade of facilities at the family’s western district training complex.

“If we can’t train winners on the facilities we’ve got there now then we may as well give up,” he said.

“My uncles, along with Dad and my brother, have done that much work and its lucky that we have an earthmoving business to be able to do it all.”

For complete race results, click here.

by John Dunne, for Harnesslink