Domination in Crown heats by top stable

There’s still much to be learned this Breeders Crown series but one thing that’s assured out of Sunday’s two-year-old heats, harness racing trainer Emma Stewart has yet another fine batch of fillies at her disposal.

Having reinforced the stable’s might with a dominant performance in Friday’s three-year-old class, Stewart claimed three of the four Ride High two-year-old fillies’ heats at Maryborough and equates for 13 of the 24 qualifiers for semi-finals on November 13.

The writing was on the wall from the outset, with the stable having four of the first five home in the opening heat, which was a walk in the park for leader Irish Black Label.

Already a winner of the APG Gold Bullion and Tatlow Stakes, the Lauriston Bloodstock filly, who’s out of None Bettor ($744,995) and Abouttime’s ($107,000) big sister Rosie Oreilly, was installed as $1.04 favourite in her heat and raced accordingly.

She led from gate one and felt no pressure throughout, zipping home in a 26.6-second last quarter to claim a five-metre win in the day’s slowest heat.

“She’s a pretty nice little filly, that’s for sure,” reinsman David Moran told TrotsVision.

“She’s amazing for a little filly who doesn’t have a lot of size, doesn’t seem to have a very long hobble, she covers the ground really, really good. She throws her front legs out a long way and obviously she covers it pretty quickly.

“She’s certainly a pretty plain little girl, there’s not a lot to her, but there’s not a lot to Ladies In Red really.”

While Darren Binskin’s Martini Stride ran on well from leader’s back to place second, Stewart runners Larvotto Beach, Heavenly Sign and Our Little Jet filled the next three placings and earned semi-finals qualification along with Ron Shephard-trained Tooby Gold.

Watch the replay below:

There was plenty more spice in the second heat, with Fiamma leading until reinsman Chris Alford guided the favourite, Amore Vita, to the front. Petillante then muscled forward to lead, with the 41.8-second lead time quite clearly the quickest of the class.

That folded into a 27.8-second first quarter and while they got a breather in the second (31.1), it was a willing 56-second last half. The horses on the pegs would dominate, with leader’s back Amore Vita scoring by a half-neck from Fiamma (three back on the pegs), while Petillante (leader) was a close third.

Another Stewart runner, Sounds Perfect, finished fourth from the breeze to qualify along with Just Hope (trained by Russell Jack) and Elegant (Geoff Webster).

“I thought she was good enough to hold the front, but the other one was up and charging a bit and we were going too hard, so took the sit,” Alford said of the Nathan Purdon-trained winner Amore Vita

“She just probably overraced a little bit, just a look a bit out of herself but she was still good enough up the straight.

“Feels like a really good horse. Today was up another level, then next week and hopefully the following week is going to be the elite, so I think she’s good enough and if things went right she’d be right up there with them.”

Watch the replay below:

The sprint lane also proved the path to victory in the third heat, with Rich Beauty able to cross to lead from gate four before handing up to favourite A Bettor You.

The daughter of Beauty Secret ($425,921) was then able to lay in wait and rip home amid a 27.8-second last quarter, nabbing the leader by a neck for reinsman Bailey McDonough.

“We new (Rich Beauty) had the ability, she just needed to get that right run where she could sit on that speed and hopefully topple over them,” McDonough told TrotsVision.

“I had to smoke the gate and she got out really good. She settled good on (Anthony Butt’s) helmet and when she had to let down she did so well.”

Relentless Me, Sergios Rocket, Ozzie Joy and Youngiftedandblack also advanced to the semi-finals. Watch the replay below:

In the final heat Greg Sugars also won via the sprint lane, though he took a much more unorthodox route.

Steering Playing Up from outside the back row, Sugars was last in the running line with 800 metres to go while Beach Memories and Encipher held court up front.

A 27.2-second third quarter took its toll on some hopefuls and while Sugars advanced the leaders jostled for position around the final turn.

Captains Queen jumped on and then off Beach Memories back as the leader started to tire, enabling Playing Up to sweep through, cut the corner and mow down stablemate Encipher at the line.

The margin – a short half-head – surprised the winning reinsman, who had thought Kate Gath and Encipher had beaten him home.

“Amazing, I’ll be interested to watch that replay, because I sort of thought half-way up the straight, shortly after entering it, gee I’m going to get pretty close here but, in the shadows of the post I thought, no I’m running out of time,” Sugars said. “Didn’t even think it was close enough really, that’s strange, I thought Kate had held on comfortably.”

It was an impressive performance by Playing Up to improve from last to first in the 55.3-second final half, particularly given she was first up since May and having only her fourth start.

“The camp obviously have their horses pretty right whenever they produce them at the races,” Sugars said. “So it was ideal, just a back row draw to follow them around, let her hit the line.

“A small field meant that I wasn’t too far from them. A couple of stragglers off the back, I was able to get back to the inside and it all worked out pretty well.”

Watch the replay below:

The Breeders Crown series continues with Thursday’s heats for the two-year-old and three-year-old trotters at Maryborough.

The pacers return for semi-finals night on November 13 as combatants jostle for a berth in the rich November 20 finals.

To view all of the results from Maraybrough last Sunday click here.

By Michael Howard for HRV