Memories flood back – and that’s Alrighty!

Affable Central Victorian harness racing trainer Joey Thompson is never one to sweat the small stuff – but even he admitted to a few raceday nerves ahead of the debut of beautifully-bred 2yo trotter Alrighty (Skyvalley) last Wednesday (Sept 25).

Thompson, who has never had a square-gaiter to the races in 40-plus years in the sport, was entrusted with the gelding by owner Bryan Healy.

And when the youngster lined up at Charlton, he carried the colors of the Healy family’s super-horse of the 1970s, Maoris Idol – the set that were made for Alrighty’s grand dam Sumthingaboutmaori.

“I think he was probably the most scrutinized trotter going around in a 2yo maiden at Charlton for a while, that’s for sure,” Thompson laughed.

“It’s been good fun, but I won’t lie – when I was getting texts from Western Australia and Queensland on the morning of the race, I did think I could possibly do without that pressure!

“I think everyone kind of bought into it a bit because for anyone who loves trots, the colors evoke memories of the caper in its halcyon days with one of the greatest horses that’s looked through a bridle.”

Alrighty, whose grand dam is Inter Dominion champion Sumthingaboutmaori (31 wins from 75 starts) and whose bloodlines go back to Maori Miss (the dam of Maoris Idol), had recorded three impressive trial victories in the month before his Charlton debut.

“He is a highly-enough strung horse, quite good on the track but he can have a bit of attitude, so I was pretty relieved he did everything right first up,” Thompson said.

“Luke (driver Luke Dunne) did a great job.  The horse normally doesn’t break but he is a 2yo trotter, after all.

“Luke’s a cool cat, he handled him well and I was as happy for him as I was for the horse. He and his partner Tori have just moved their team to the Charlton Training Centre, and he got his first home-track win at his first drive here, which was great.”

The great Maoris Idol was bred and owned by Bryan’s dad Ric Healy of Marnoo, near Stawell, and was driven by Bryan throughout his career. Maori’s Idol had 46 race starts for 40 wins (eight against pacers) and won 16 of his 18 starts at Moonee Valley.

He still holds the Australian and New Zealand record for successive winning sequence for a trotter of 24 victories and was the first trotter in the Southern Hemisphere to break the two-minute mile in a race, clocking 1:59.3 at Mooney Valley in 1977.

Healy now lives on the Gold Coast but still has family connections to north central Victoria and is a regular visitor to the region.

“I’ve broken in horses for Bryan over the years. Bryan likes the idea of the 1 ½ mile straight track that we have here at Charlton for preparing the trotters, and after I broke Alrighty in he just said that I might as well train him as well,” Thompson said.

“At this stage, he looks like a promising horse. He s got a beautiful action and does it very easily. He wants to please and he wants to trot, and hopefully we will get him a bit more balanced yet.

“We haven’t really mapped out a program for him yet, but potentially his next run might be the Tatlow in three weeks.  And we’ll have a look at qualifying him from the stand and possibly the Redwood at Maryborough, but we will just do what’s best for the horse.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink