No mercy: Mevia the gladiator dominates at Maryborough

Victorian hobby co-trainers Peter Lane and Anita Burke may well have unveiled one of the most exciting trotting fillies of the harness racing season at Maryborough recently.

Stylish and athletic, two-year-old filly Mevia (Elite Stride) – named after Mevia, a Roman woman of status who defied social norms to fight as a gladiator – announced herself with an imposing 10-metre debut win last Monday week (Sept 22).

Despite being “fizzy” and taking three attempts to qualify, Mevia (known at home as Evie) showed her natural talent at Maryborough, cruising to victory without being fully extended.

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“She has felt like a really nice horse all along,” Burke said.

“Peter never clicked her up when she won. He didn’t turn the whip around or ask her to go and he came back and told me he felt she could have run anything. It was pretty exciting.”

Peter and Anita bred Mevia’s dam Mattaluca (CR Commando) and grand-dam Rinehart (Great Success). While Mattaluca showed ability, she never reached her potential due to pneumonia as a foal and later in the breeding barn with fertility issues.

“Mattaluca was a lovely trotter but never had the wind for racing,” Burke said.

“In the end we gave her away as a riding horse because we had too many, unfortunately.”

Mevia, however, looks every bit the athlete – a fact underlined by her qualification from the standing start at Cranbourne trials on Sunday night (Sept 28), pointing her towards the Group 1 Redwood Classic at Maryborough on November 2.

“We like to handle ours a lot before we send them to the breakers, but because we were moving house at that stage, when Mevia and our other two-year-old filly Klymene (Elite Stride) should have been handled, they didn’t get as much attention as we would normally give them,” Burke said.

“Cameron Maggs breaks our young ones in, and he found them very strong-minded fillies. When they finally turned the corner, he really liked them both – Mevia he thought a lot of, but he also told us to make sure we hung onto Klymene too.”

Former Kilmore locals, Peter is a former marketing professional and Anita an equine vet, and together they now manage Colleen Bamford’s Balnarring property on the Mornington Peninsula.

“I started in harness racing when I was 13 working for Jean Feiss, and Peter has been in the sport a similar length of time,” Burke said.

“Peter does all the shoeing, and we combine for most things. Colleen has always been in harness racing but is heavily into thoroughbreds now.

“We’re really enjoying it here – and it’s great to think we might have one or two nice ones coming through again.”

The couple previously enjoyed notable success with trotters Kheiron (Majestic Son) (14 wins, including the Gr 1 Vicbred Super Series and Gr 2 Breeders Crown in 2018) and Eisenhower (Cr Commando) (12 wins, runner-up in the 2009 Gr 1 APG 3YO Trotters Final).

Klymene (Elite Stride), a half-sister to Kheiron, who also had her first start at Maryborough for an eighth, is also progressing nicely.

“She’s more steadfast, but she doesn’t have the brilliance of Evie,” Burke said.

“The trouble is the good horses pay for all the rats! But we are really just enjoying where we are at, and doing everything together.

“It’s definitely very exciting – it will be interesting to see how many revs there are with Mevia, but we really couldn’t be happier with where she is at for now.

“We just hope everyone who has their heart and soul in trotters, like we do, will enjoy watching how she can progress.”

From Terry Gange at Harnesslink