Queen Elida shows her class against the mares

Evergreen mare Queen Elida (Love You) appreciated the drop in class when she outstayed her harness racing rivals in the Group 3 Lyn McPherson Memorial Breed for Speed Gold Trot for trotting mares at Melton last night.

A justifiable favourite on the basis of her previous form the only issue was her awkward draw.

In a master stroke drive, Chris Alford was able to extricate the mare off her inside second row draw early to be one off the fence. It looked for a while that she would obtain a one out and one back trail but Aldebaran Vera was able to find the lead and in doing so left Queen Elida to race outside the leader.

But at the business end of the race on turning for home Queen Elida dug deep and she raced past Aldebaran Vera. Aldebaran Acrux who had the sit behind Queen Elida attempted a challenge but with Alford driving vigorously the mare showed great determination in winning by just under three metres. She rated 1.54.9 for the 1720 metres running her last quarter in 28.6 seconds.

With 36 wins in her name, Queen Elida is inching towards the one million stake money and has proved to be a great drawcard over the years.

Alford praised Queen Elida.

“It’s been a little while since she has won. I’m not even sure when she won last time. She’s been racing the best ones all the time.”

“She came back well with a trial win last week.” “She has these funny traits. But I wouldn’t want to swap her for anything.”

Alford indicated that her New Zealand connections Tony and Cheryl Barron along with Gordon McKenzie with his sons Graeme, Blair and Brad are keen to see her race in the Cambridge Slot event in April and there is also a Flying Mile event.

“Hopefully she’ll crack the million over there” added Alford.

For complete race results, click here.

By Tony Milanese for Harnesslink