Golden opportunity goes begging

A handful of potential buyers were most likely kicking themselves yesterday when trotting youngster Unspoken Love put her best foot forward.

The three-year-old bay filly Unspoken Love (Sportswriter-Im Justforyou (Christian Cullen) was recently advertised for sale, but didn’t attract too much serious attention.

Prepared at Shelbourne, near Bendigo, by young trainer Kate Hargreaves, Unspoken Love was driven to perfection by her training partner Jack MacKinnon to win the Elaine Angus Memorial 3YO VicBred Maiden Trot at Maryborough.

The meeting was the first of the famed Redwood Carnival for square-gaiters only – with further fixtures next Friday and Sunday afternoons.

“I was really confident the horse would go okay because she’s been getting better and better each time we take her to the races,” MacKinnon said.

“She has always had ability, but we’ve had to work on a few problems like over-racing and not being very tractable,” he said.

MacKinnon said it was decided to change up the horse’s training routine slightly after she galloped at Ballarat and finished unplaced eleven days ago.

“Hopefully we’ve found the secret and she can win a few more. There’s a small group of owners including Gary and Kim Collinson, who are probably Kate’s main owners, and they were thrilled because we also picked up the VicBred bonus for them,” he said.

After being four back on the fence early, MacKinnon was able to pop out into the running line with a lap to go. Unspoken Love was three wide for the last 500 metres, but packed too many punches and won nicely.

In-form MacKinnon, now with three recent wins (two of them on Honour Before Glory), said the Maryborough victory was special.

“I’ve driven at the Redwood carnival days in the past, but this was the first time I’ve got a winner. I definitely lean toward the trotters more than the pacers-I love being involved with them,” he said.

“We are training about 24 at the moment and eight or nine of them would be trotters.”

Three heats of the Haras Des Trotteurs Victoria Trotters Derby saw Senitas Strength (James Herbertson), Kyvalley Hotspur (Anthony Butt) and Aldebaran Zeus (Chris Alford) successful. The heats were named in honor of stallions standing at Pat Driscoll’s stud-Bold Eagle, Bird Parker and Brilliantissime. The $75,000 final and prestigious $50,000 G1 Aldabaran Park Redwood Classic for two-year-old trotters will be run next Sunday.

Josh Aiken scored on Aldebaran Crescent in another of yesterday’s feature events, the Aldebaran Park True Roman G3 Free-For-All.

Click here to see the results from Maryborough on Sunday.

By Terry Gange for Harnesslink