Brooke back in winners’ circle

Brooke Wilkins introduced herself to Victorian harness racing in the best possible fashion on Saturday night with victory at her very first drive since moving to the state.

The former Sydneysider recently joined the powerful Emma Stewart stable and partnered the yard's six-year-old horse Somewhere Secret to an all-the-way victory in the Alabar Pace (1720m, NR 80-89) at Tabcorp Park Melton.

It was a memorable triumph for the 22-year-old, who only shifted to Victoria to work for Stewart a few months ago and had rarely been seen in the sulky during recent years.

"It was good to start off with a winner. I haven't driven in a race for a long time so it's good to be back," Wilkins said.

"It's very special. He's a lovely horse around the stables, he's good to do anything with and it's good to get that win for Emma and Clayton (Tonkin)."

Wilkins has a rich harness racing background with her grandfather Bill and father David both having been trainers. Bill was perhaps best known as caretaker of champion pacer Cardigan Bay during his career.

Wilkins said she was loving her time in Victoria working for the state's premier training complex.

"It's quite an experience driving so many Group 1 winners in one day – it's just crazy," she said.

"They've got a great team out there and great horses and it's a really good environment."

Somewhere Secret has now won 11 of his 22 career starts for more than $80,000 in prizemoney.

Like the previous weekend, racing was conducted at Melton in the morning and then the evening on Saturday. Across the day's 15 races, Stewart collected five winners while Greg Sugars took driving honours with four victories.

Another major highlight was the third installment of the Eureka versus Rocknroll Ronnie rivalry.

With the ledger sitting at one apiece from their two recent Melton battles, it was Andy Gath-trained Eureka that took a lead in the showdown with a tough win in the TAB Long May We Play Pace (1720m, NR 70-79).

"They keep turning the tables on each other and I'm surprised at that time (1:53:7)," driver Kate Gath said.

"I think he's tough and tonight we just went around, kept running and thought we would see what happens. We had nothing to lose and he was very good."

The success was one of two for Andy Gath on the night after Explicit Castle scored victory in somewhat unusual circumstances. Generally regarded as a key piece of gear for pacers, the hopples were taken off the horse for the DNR Logistics Pace (2240m, 4YO and older) and it helped the horse score his first win since February.

For the third weekend in a row, a morning meeting will be held before the regular night card next Saturday as the industry continues its trial of the new early timeslot.