Back with a blast and more to come

Astute Victorian trainer-driver Michael Stanley has certainly blasted back to form from a serious injury setback and is as energised as he’s ever been to fine-tune harness racing winners.

Stanley broke three vertebrae when he was hit from behind by another runner in the Bendigo Cup in January – but with his own health back and a full team returning to fitness, he’s prepared five winners from six starters in July, and with plenty to look forward to.

Exciting three-year-old Yahoo (Vincent) gave a glimpse of his potential with sizzling wins at Charlton (July 3 and July 20). The second of his victories, against 55-65 class horses, was in 1:53.8, just outside the track record, on a rain-affected track.

Another of the Stanley three-year-olds, Soho Moonraker (Sweet Lou) followed suit with an impressive win at Geelong (July 21).

And with his stable star, last year’s Victoria Cup winner RocknRoll Doo back at the trials, Stanley has plenty to look forward to in the back end of the 2023 season.

“Rock N Roll Doo going off the boil at the end of last year and me getting hurt at the start of this year really set us back a bit with the stable,” Stanley said.

“I know the last month probably looks good, but the first half of the year has been really lean – my wife Genevieve and the team at home have done a great job to keep things ticking along while I haven’t been able to do much. It’s been a pretty rough time.

“It was good to have these couple of three years olds coming through. They are really handy and were on a low grade to kick off getting us back to racing again.”

Stanley said both of the youngsters would be aimed at the Alabar Bloodstock Nutrien Equine Classic heats at Bendigo next week.

“Yahoo isn’t very big, but he has a good frame and a nice long stride for a little horse. He’s a good businesslike little fella with a high cruising speed, and he can hold his speed for a long while.  I really like him, I think he will keep progressing and be a nice performer in the long term.

“That was a reasonable field at Charlton last week and people might say a few of them were out of form, but they’ve all won 8 to 12 races and they were a seasoned bunch, where he’s only had four starts so it’s still a tough ask for a lightly raced three year old.”

Stanley said Soho Moonraker was on the same path as Yahoo, to Nutrien heats and a let up before aiming at the Vicbred series races later in the year.

“He’s been quite slow to mature, and I had a lot of trouble with him as a 2yo and even as an early 3yo in skipping in and out of his gear.  But he’s always had good ability, and extremely well bred and he’s progressed well these past couple of months.

“I think both of them will mix it with the better ones in those races, although Soho Moonraker perhaps lacks that little bit of high speed at this stage.  They’ll be there amongst them and competitive though.”

Stanley said the stable is now back to a team of around 20 in work, with 10 racehorses and the balance of yearlings and two-year-olds.

“Rock N Roll Doo and Soho Seraphine (runner up to Catalpa Rescue in the Caduceus Classic in January) both trialled last week and are nearly ready to race.  We’ve got a couple of two-year-olds and three-year-olds that aren’t too far off.

“I think with Rock N Roll Doo the New Zealand trip (for the NZ Trotting Cup and Canterbury FFA) took more out of him than we realised.  He just went off the boil completely.  But he’s had three months in the paddock and feels as good as he ever did, like his old self.

“The way last year finished off with winning the Victoria Cup we were really looking forward to this year and it was so frustrating how things panned out.  Now we are getting a few back to the track and hitting the winners stall we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

There are encouraging signs all round, with Stanley’s wife Genevieve Browne also getting into the winner’s stall at the gallops recently.

“Genevieve trained a couple of gallopers when we met. She gave it away for quite a while and she’s only just got back into it. She’s had a few placings, but she broke through for a winner at Ballarat a few weeks back with a horse called Dancing Choose. It’s raced by our good owners, Brendan James, who owns Yahoo, and Rob Watson who owns Soho Moonraker – so it’s been a pretty exciting few weeks!”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink