Big and small stables share Group 1 success at Melton

A precision performance and a beauty for the battlers made for many smiles at Tabcorp Park Melton on Saturday night as Group 1 glory was grabbed by harness racing stables big and small.

The $50,000 Aldebaran Park Vicbred Home Grown Classic finals have again delivered a magic moment, with father-and-son training team David and Brad Barnes capturing their first Group 1 with Mumpaysthebills winning the three-year-old trotting fillies’ final.

Winning reinsman Craig Demmler lauded winners as “terrific people”, telling TrotsVision “I get more of a kick out of driving a winner for these sort of people, because they are (hobbyists) and they just enjoy it and their horses are going really good at the moment.”

Opportunity knocked for Mumpaysthebills when short-priced pair Atego Dawn and Be My Star both galloped out of contention, with the latter – the race favourite – robbing reinsman Josh Dickie of a potential clean sweep of the night’s finals.

Dickie and his steer Hes A Hammer put in a flawless performance in the preceding three-year-old colts and geldings $50,000 final, when he sat quietly on leader’s back and then struck late for trainer David Aiken and owner Domenic Martello.

“Just pleased to get an opportunity like this tonight – to drive for a very good trainer like David Aiken and his client Domenic Martello, who’s actually a client of ours as well,” said Dickie, who’s recently established in Victoria after an outstanding New Zealand career.

“Dom’s been a great supporter of ours for a couple of years, so to be asked to drive this horse tonight, I was very honoured, and the way the horse got the job done, winning a Group 1 for us, doesn’t get much better.”

From gate one Hes A Hammer took the back of leader Hephaestus Phoenix, who was kept honest by Sir Eros on his outside with a 28.8sec first quarter and then a series of even quarters.

“It just worked out perfectly,” Dickie said. “One of those races where you couldn’t script it any better. They ran even enough time, when I was turning around the (last) corner he was just travelling so well. You could just tell he was going to pick them up pretty quick.”

And he did, winning by 2.8 metres from Chris Svanosio’s Hephaestus Phoenix, with a gap back to Sir Eros in third.

“He’s a lovely gaited trotter, he’s got lovely cruising speed when you ask him to run,” Dickie said of the winner.

“Tonight it was just beautiful, he’s lovely to drive, he sits off the bit, you only have to put the stick on his tail and he responds to you.

“In 12 months’ time he’s the sort of trotter you’d like to see how he’s getting on, because he’s a very well put together horse. Potentially in the future this horse could be one of our Grand Circuit trotters.”

David and Brad Barnes will also be daring to dream big after capturing a career best crown with Mumpaysthebills, who like Hes A Hammer benefitted from a gate one draw and enjoyed a quite ride on the pegs in the fillies’ final.

Atego Dawn galloped while battling Boutika for the lead and then Be My Star broke on the peg line, enabling Demmler to cruise to the back of Boutika, who would take him to the final turn.

He emerged early on the leader’s outside and then clung on for a 1.2-metre win from Illawong Larajay and Gardena Ronda, who filled the placings for trainers Jess Tubbs and Blake Fitzpatrick respectively.

“My main aim was to get her out there and keep her settled,” Demmler told TrotsVision. “I knew the one in front (Boutika) would run along a bit but may get a little tired.

“I was probably lucky enough the one on my outside (Illawong Larajay) was not getting around the bends well, so I was able to come out and then make my run.”

It helped set up the win and the special result for the trainers, who also own (with Barclay Barnes) and bred the Skyvalley filly out of Gavlenn Jo Al.

“Dave’s the father, Brad’s the son and they do it as a duo,” Demmler said. “Brad spent his time with Clayton (Tonkin) and (Alab Tubbs) and they used to say that he was Tubbsy’s son that he never had.

“It’s fabulous, he looked up to Alan, he was a good mentor for Brad. They have jobs during the day and do work on the night or later in the afternoon. They are terrific people and they just enjoy it, love a beer and having a good time and I just enjoy working for them.

“It’s great for them, it’s their first Group 1, which is fantastic. That’s what brings people into the sport, to see people like this win these sort of races.”

The night also saw two well-rated, lightly-raced prospects reaffirm they are horses of the future.

Firstly Hi Manameisjeff was dominant in winning the prestigious $50,000 City Of Melton Plate XXXII by 10.2 metres, storming clear in a 54.8sec last half for trainer Russell Jack and reinsman Mark Pitt.

And the latter said he had plenty left in the tank with the five-year-old, who’s now won seven of his 15 career starts.

“I think he can go a long way this horse for the little racing he’s had,” Pitt said.

“I’m sure they’d have pretty big plans. I think he’s a nice horse, he’s got strength and he’s got a lot of high speed.”

While future plans were still to be drawn, Pitt said he’d be a worthy runner in the April 23 Mildura Pacing Cup, which he proved with Saturday night’s front-running performance.

“I was always looking for the front,” Pitt said. “I could have strode a lot quicker if I wanted too. He felt that good tonight.”

The win gave Pitt a double from as many starts, having won the first with Private Eye for Ahmed Taiba.

Jason Lee also enjoyed a pretty comfortable time of it out in front in the Allied Express Ian Daff Memorial, having held the top from gate one with Rogue Wave and hit the line in a 53.1-second last half to score from Sweet Louise and Eva Mateo.

The win is the fifth of the four-year-old mare’s career, having so often – like many of Emma Stewart’s talented fillies – played second fiddle to stablemate Ladies In Red as a juvenile.

“She’ll just keep getting better with more racing,” Lee said. “She was pretty casual on the line by the finish there tonight. We were pretty soft on her up the straight, didn’t ask her to do too much, but definitely think she’d up to the best mares in Australia.”

There was also plenty of pride after trotting warrior Sundons Courage registered just his second win since November 2020 in the Event 720 Scotch Notch Memorial.

Having his first start since being badly checked in the Australian Trotting Grand Prix, Sundons Courage showed his name was still well and truly apt with an all-the-way victory.

Driver James Herbertson credited trainer Chris Angove and owner-breeder Brad Angove the “credit”, with the nine-year-old stallion recording his 24^th career win at start number 129.

“For him to be able to run those sorts of times and then rip off that sort of last half as well, after everything that’s happened of late – the bad luck he’s had, getting knocked around, knocked down and everything going wrong, for him to be able to fight back and have the win was really incredible,” Herbertson told TrotsVision.

The win gave Herbertson a double, having also steered Roll Along Styx to victory in the last – the Beraldo Pace – for trainer Trent Medcraft.

It capped a standout night for the reinsman, who also drove Illawong Larajay, Major Manbar, Cherokee Joe and Sweet Louise to second placings. Remarkably, they all occured in Herbertson’s final six drives of the night between races four and 10.

By Michael Howard for HRV