Blake goes the extra mile in search of more winners

He spends a lot of time on the road these days, travelling all around the state.

And that doesn’t bother Young-based harness racing reinsman Blake Micallef in his endless search for winners.

The 24-year-old makes the long journey to Club Menangle today with three pacers trained by his father David.

With 22 in work and 17 of them currently racing, the Micallef stable has never been busier.

“I have to thank Dad for going fulltime and giving us plenty to do,” said Blake.

“It’s definitely the best team we’ve ever had and we have high hopes that a few of them will kick on and become more than handy horses.”

Blake will partner stable newcomer Mary Mourne (Panpacificflight) ($7.50) in Race 5 today and hinted she might be the best of his three chances.

“I do have a bit of time for this mare,” said Micallef.

“She had a nice trial at Wagga and went really nicely and she seems to be getting better and better.

“Obviously, this will be a bit of a test for her up against some of the older horses, but I do think she’s up to it.

“It depends how far we get back and her manners.

“She can do a few things wrong, looking at her New Zealand record but since she arrived here, she has been behaving like a little angel so we have our fingers crossed she can take that to the races today.”

Blake also drives eight-year-old gelding Im OK, one of the outsiders in Race 6.

“We’ve taken him there [Menangle] twice before and he’s raced well,” he said.

“His form dropped away at the start of the season but his last couple of runs have been better than they look on paper and he won’t disgrace himself.”

Blake also drives another stable newcomer in Some Change ($17) in race 9.

“Every time we’ve asked him to do something he seems to step up,” said Blake.

“We’ve had a little bit of space between his runs and also changed the way we’ve been working him.

“I expect him to rattle a few cages when he goes around today.”

Micallef said that at the start of this year his goal was just to try and beat the 85 winners he had last year.

“We had a bit of a slow start to this season but everything is warming up now, which is great,” he said.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Michael Court, for HRNSW