Perfidious Sue makes it three on end

Perfidious Sue (Captaintreacherous) continued her upward spiral as the David Murphy harness racing stable added another victory to a hot period of form at Melton Entertainment Park on Saturday night.

The Dunnstown stable collected its fourth win of the week when the fiery-yet-talented squaregaiter led and crushed her rivals in the APG 4YO and 5YO Trot.

There were a few nervous moments as Perfidious Sue galloped over the line, but she had a big margin on the second-placed Aldebaran Brooke and was in no danger of having the race taken from her in the stewards’ room.

“I didn’t know what to expect out of the gate,” Murphy said. “She’s getting better out of the gate all the time, but when she led as comfortable as she did, I thought she was going to be really hard to beat. She just felt terrific the whole way.

“When I had James (Herbertson on favourite Shes Ruby Roo) off the bit coming to the 400m, I was pretty confident there. I don’t know what she did just before the line, but she’s a bit temperamental.”

Saturday night’s display continued a great run of form for the pacing-bred daughter of Captaintreacherous, who has now won three on end and is really progressing through the trotting ranks here in Victoria.

“She’d been to other trainers before us as a pacer, and for them she was hanging really bad all the time,” Murphy, a winner of over 1100 races as a trainer and more than 1400 races as a driver, said. “I sent Declan, my son, out to work her one day and she just looked like she could trot.

“She’s by Captaintreacherous and they’re known to be quite fiery. And her dam line, I think I’ve had about four out of her Mum (Valiant Sue) and they’re all pretty crazy.

“As you can see when she’s going, she’s a beautifully gaited trotter. It was just more getting her thinking about things properly and getting her calm. But she’s thinking about things pretty good at the moment.”

Murphy said he hoped Perfidious Sue, a nine-time winner from 39 starts, could soon become competitive at free-for-all level and has aims of taking the five-year-old mare to Queensland for the 2025 Inter Dominion carnival next July.

For complete race results, click here.

by Tim O’Connor, for Harness Racing Victoria