Chapter One has an interesting storyline

Veteran pacer Chapter One has done a turn or two on the harness racing merry-go-round but he and Melton trainer Amanda Grieve are certainly building up a great partnership.

The 10-year-old is a regular on the “claiming” circuit, and in nine starts for Grieve has not only notched up three wins, but also matched it with the State’s best claimers, in the Melton Battle of the Claimers back in October.

The pair again put their best foot forward at Charlton yesterday at Chapter One’s (Art Major – Initforfun (Chistian Cullen) 175th start – and for Grieve and his owner Pauline McColgan the win was sweet, after they went within a whisker of losing the quirky character.

“We put two horses into the Battle of the Claimers heats back in October, Yorkshire and Chapter One. Yorkshire won his heat and Chapter One finished third in his,” Grieve said.

“On the finals night, there were 32 ‘claims’ put in.28 of the claims were for Yorkshire, and four for Chapter One!” she said.

“So that night we took two horses to the final and should have come home with neither of them. It looked like we had lost both Yorkshire (who finished third and was claimed for Bendigo trainer Shaun McNaulty) and Chapter One (who finished second) was claimed for Tasmanian interests!”

Under Claiming Race rules, aspiring owners can lodge their “claim” for any of the starters, and the sale is unconditional after the race. Chapter One in the first place had originally been “claimed” and sent to Grieve by McColgan in September.

But, as luck would have it, the new ownership of Chapter One was happy to continue to race the pacer in Victoria for the time.

“So he stayed with us and ran a third for the new owners at Cranbourne on a very heavy track, which we were really happy with, given the conditions,” she said.

“Then he put in an awful run at Melton and the new owners didn’t want him anymore – they asked us if we wanted to buy him back, which Pauline was happy to do.

“At that stage, in the seven starts we’d had him he’d only finished out of a place that once – and had won two for us. He’s as honest as honest, a lovely horse to have around and with a bit of personality, so we were all happy when we could keep him.”

After the Melton disappointment Grieve gave Chapter One a brief letup, before resuming at Bendigo earlier in the month for a seventh.

“He went pretty well and was then supposed to go to Tasmania to contest a claimer down there, but that race didn’t stand up, so Charlton it was,” she said.

From a barrier one draw courtesy of a modest claim price of $5000 ($2000 less than his mark when he attracted strong interest in the Battle of the Claimers) Chapter One did the rest, pinging up the sprint lane to score by three metres – his 26th career victory for lifetime stakes just shy of $200,000.

Chapter One might be a little like the proverbial “bad penny” – he just keeps turning up at the Grieve stable, but Amanda sees it otherwise.

“I’d say he’s been a good little ATM!” she laughed.

Watch Chapter One’s recent win:

By Terry Gange for Harnesslink