Lucky charm in town for thrilling win

Victorian harness racing trainer Joanne Franklin was over the moon with the win of her enigmatic square gaiter My High Peak (Peak) at Maryborough last week – but her visiting West Australian niece Maddison was even more ecstatic.

“Maddison is horse mad, and she comes over from Perth a couple of times a year to visit us, and stays a couple of weeks mainly to be around the horses, I think! She only arrived here on the day of the race, so maybe she was a lucky charm,” Jo said.

“They live in town, so getting over here to our place out on the farm and being able to be around the quiet ones, she just loves it.  She told the big horse (My High Peak) this morning that he was just heading to the trials, not the races, so maybe that wasn’t a bad idea!” she said.

A big and beautiful looking chestnut gelding, My High Peak scored a convincing death-seat win in quick time (1:58.9) for driver Alex Ashwood in the Maryborough Advertiser Trot – his first run since being sent back to the trials for breaking during running at his previous two starts.

Jo admits the five-year-old has tested her patience with mixing his form since a handy win early in the year.

“He’s very frustrating.  He is a very nice horse, but you never know when you have him,” Jo said.

“He does seem a lot more relaxed lately though so hopefully we are getting somewhere with him at last.  I think the breed does take time, as well, so hopefully he is starting to mature,” she said.

The Franklin stable has also been enjoying a good run with another square gaiter, Glengariff (Imperial Count) which has a win and two thirds from its past three outings.

Jo and her partner Brian Hanley prepare a team of about six horses from their property at Moonlight Flats, near Maryborough, and Jo said the sport was what brought the couple together.

“I grew up at Ballarat and my mum and dad always did polo cross and camp drafting and the like, so I was around horses always, and rode them when I was young,” Jo said.

“I wanted to do something with horses, and I worked in the thoroughbreds with (trainer) Jim Cerchi for a few years,” she said.

“But then I met Brian, and he was into harness racing.  His involvement goes back to Reg Hayes (father of Maryborough horseman Mark), so he’s been around them a long time.  I gradually just got more and more involved until I finally got a trainer’s licence about 30 years ago.

“We bought this property at Moonlight Flats about 20 years ago.  It’s perfect for us – about 20 acres with a 650-metre track that runs right beside the bush. It’s very peaceful.”

In addition to preparing their own team, they break in a handful for outside owners, including My High Peak for the Semmens Family.

“I did all the early work with him for David and Keith, and once he was up and going they took him home with the plan to work him themselves. But he is a little bit of a headstrong type and he was a bit much of a handful,” she said.

“So we ended up leasing him and have raced him for all of his career.

“We don’t like to have too many breakers because we are very hands on with all of our horses.  They’re very well looked after – what they need is what they get! But it does take time and a lot of work, so it’s always great to get a winner.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink