Family knowledge the key to Group quest

Powderkeg couldn’t be in better hands in his quest for Vicbred Super Series (4YO Trotting Entires and Geldings) glory.

The son of Muscle Hill is prepared by Lisa Miles whose grandfather Alf Simons had few peers as a mentor of squaregaiters in a career spanning almost half a century.

Simons put the polish on numerous feature race winners including Don’t Enquire, My Lesson, New Caledonia and Victoria Trotters Derby champ Special Dollar.

“Pa was getting towards the end of his career when I started driving as a junior and I only wish he was still around so I could ask his advice now I’m a trainer,” Miles said.

“Mum (Simons’ daughter Betty Lewis) has a good memory and often tells me what Pa was able to achieve with trotters.

“Special Dollar suffered from bad quarter cracks, but Pa shod him a special way and he was able to win the Derby and then took him to South Australia where he won the Gramel Series.”

Miles, who races most of her horses in the red and yellow stars made famous by her grandfather, has Powderkeg in peak form heading into the series and appears the horse to beat in his heat at Melton on Tuesday night. Click here to see fields.

Three starts ago Powderkeg outstayed his rivals in the Group 2 Breeders Crown Championship before finishing fourth behind Tornado Valley in the Freestone Trotters Free For All after sitting outside the leader.

Miles believes Powderkeg has matured in the past 12 months.

“He always had the ability, but he went through an ugly patch last season as a three-year-old. He has improved and developed this season and I think he will be a better horse in 12 months’ time,” she said.

Miles said Powderkeg races best when he can secure cover in a race.

“He is better with a sit in the good races, he just loves to sit on speed,” she said.

Powderkeg’s main source of opposition in the series looks to be the Emma Stewart-trained Cover Of Darkness, who was runner-up in the Breeders Crown Championship.

Like Powderkeg, Cover Of Darkness should make full use of a favorable front row draw in his heat and make light work of progressing through to the Group 1 final at Melton on New Year’s Eve.

The heats of the four-year-old trotting mares series appear to be veritable match races.

In the first heat, the Anton Golino-trained Im Ready Jet should work to the lead from her wide front row draw and will have to withstand the finishing burst of Illawong Stardust, who finished an unlucky fifth in the Inter Dominion Trotting Grand Final.

Despite her second row draw, crowd favourite Pink Galahs is sure to have plenty of admirers in the second heat.

Mattie Craven is hoping the mare parks her NSW Inter Dominion Grand Final manners at the border as she is sure to have a battle with the well-bred La Serena, who strolled in at Ballarat and is threatening to fulfil her considerable potential.

By John Dunne for HRV