Queensland harness racing wrap

Catch up on the week’s harness racing action in our weekly review, thanks to Darren Clayton.

THE GOOD

The rise of the trotter continues in Queensland and the strength of the square gait in this state was on display at Menangle on Saturday night.

Queensland trained trotters were able to claim two races on the night, with the Shane Graham-trained Agent Black (Sebatian K) and the Shannon Price-trained Van Sank (Trixton) both successful.

AGENT BLACK REPLAY

Agent Black remains undefeated and despite being bred and trained in Queensland, he is yet to have a race start in his home state.

Taken South for the APG Series, the two-year-old was a smart winner on debut to progress through to Saturday night’s Final.

Beginning smartly from barrier seven, Graham had the son of Sebastian K in front just past the winning post with one lap to travel.

Turning for home, Agent Black was trying to shake off the chasers and pinched a small margin.

The further the long Menangle home stretch continued, the more vulnerable the colt looked to be.

However, he was able to dig deep and under the urgings of Graham, hold on for the barest possible margin and claim the lions share of the $125,000 prize money on offer.

A big season beckons for the talented two-year-old with targets including the New South Wales Foundation Series and Breeders Challenge, the QBRED Triad Series and even The Redwood in Victoria.

In claiming the win, Agent Black becomes the first Queensland-trained winner of an interstate juvenile trotting feature, highlighting how far the trotting gait has progressed in the past 15 years, that progression even more evident in the past five years.

Further highlighting the strength of the Queensland trotting ranks, Van Sank continued his affinity with the spacious 1400 metre Menangle track, securing his third win in seven attempts on Saturday night.

Sent forward from gate eight, Adam Sanderson was able to find the space to drop in behind the leader and secure the perfect trail over the mile journey.

As the field swung for home and Credit Master had moved up to challenge the leader Funky Monkey, Sanderson was able to extricate from the trail, move wider and set out for the run to the judge.

In driving rain, it was Van Sank that had the superior closing speed to claim the prize, establishing a new career benchmark of 1.56.7 with the win.

The win was the second of a training double for Price, following the win of Speak The Truth earlier in the night.

Second-up from a spell, the richly talented four-year-old franked the strength of his first up Albion Park victory a fortnight prior with another classy victory, stopping the clock in 1.51.7 for the mile.

Speak The Truth looks the obvious runner to fill the slot for “Team Raboki” in the inaugural Hayden where, off current form, he could be strongly fancied to claim the win and subsequently gain the slot for the Eureka in September.

THE BAD

While the good side of the square gait was on display at Menangle, the frustrating side was evident at Albion Park on Saturday when race favourite Adelle made a costly error in the last race of the night.

Searching for a hat-trick of victories after a pair of impressive victories leading into her latest assignment, the seven-year-old mare threw her chances away before even reaching the starting point.

Moving up to the gate approaching the start of the mobile mile, Adelle made an error, breaking gait and driver Nathan Dawson could do little as the mare was reluctant to return to a trot.

Giving away at least 60 metres, if not further, her chances ended.

Settled back into a trot, Adelle chased the field and was able to re-join at the rear of the pack as they approached the turn with 800 metres to travel.

Despite the exertion in chasing the field, Adelle kept giving and amazingly was able to beat two runners home, finishing just nine metres from the winner Leesa Castleton (Majestic Son).

Dissecting her sectionals after the race displays the power of the run in defeat.

Spending the early stages chasing the field, her own first half of the last mile was run in a sizzling 56.11, through quarters of 27.81 and 28.3.

Running her third split in 28.6, she was able to maintain the power with a 28.9 closing quarter, stopping the clock for her own last mile in a sizzling 1.53.65.

The strength of the effort is highlighted by the fact the track record is 1.55.1, held by Greg The Great.

With the added features for the trotters in the Constellations Carnival and the Inter Dominion later in the season, the Butler stable look to have a serious feature race contender if they can iron out the mare’s manners.

THE WILDCARD

Trent Dawson produced a deft training performance at Albion Park on Saturday night, claiming a double courtesy of wins to Future Assured (Always B Miki) and For Real Life (For A Reason).

Not only was the manner of the victory of each horse impressive, both horses were first up from a spell, and both recorded new career benchmarks, with each setting a personal best winning rate.

Future Assured started from gate four in a qualifying pace, where he was sent forward, and with some early speed, had to stretch out to a 26.6 second opening split to take control.

My Ultimate Byron, who was first-up for Nathan Dawson, had worked through the pack from three off the second line, hoping to get in front of Future Assured, however was unable to do so and was forced to sit parked thereafter.

Able to ease the pace with a 30.3 second split, the pace livened again down the back stretch, with Future Assured allowed slide by Dawson, with a 27.9 third split putting a dent in the chasing pack.

Pulling clear spinning for home, the four-year-old scorched his last 400 metres in 26.6 to stop the clock in a mile rate of 1.51.3, with a winning margin of over 14 metres.

Owned by Kevin and Kay Seymour under the “Solid Earth” banner, the effort boosting his credentials for selection for the slot in The Hayden held by the Seymours.

Two races later and For Real Life made it a one act affair of a strong three-year-old contest, leading throughout over the mobile 1660 metre trip at his first run back.

Easily finding the front from gate two, Dawson was always in control, allowed to pinch a pedestrian 32 second quarter before sizzling up the stretch in 26 flat.

In claiming the fourth win of his career, the colt, which is also owned by Dawson, took his career earnings past $100,000.

Last season’s Group 1 two-year-old TRIAD winner did his own chances of gaining a Hayden slot no harm with the dominant first-up victory.

THE MILESTONE

Westburn Grant (Land Grant) was a star of the track from the late 1980’s into the early 1990’s and despite his death almost three years ago at the ripe age of 34, his impact on the sport continues and was evident in the past week.

“Spot” as he was affectionately known was trained throughout his career by Vic Frost and is credited as the broodmare of six individual winners in 2023 across Australia, five of those having been successful since April 18 and four of those having won here in Queensland.

Including in those wins was a double on successive days, starting on April 20 when Imthecandyman and Reason To Be were both successful at Redcliffe.

The next day on April 21, Fire And Ice and Im A Classy Girl were both successful at Albion Park, with Fire And Ice trained by Frost’s wife Gail Geeson, while both winners were bred by Frost and Geeson under the banner of “Vic Frost Harness Racing”.

It was symbolic that “Spot” could feature with a double on April 21.

At Albion Park on April 21, 1993, Westburn Grant claimed the last of his 38 race victories, wining a heat of the Inter Dominion, defeating Chokin by a narrow margin.

The date of May 1 was the 30th anniversary of the last race appearance of Westburn Grant, the champion retired following a sixth placing in the Inter Dominion Final, claimed by Jack Morris.

Another two winners came in the past week, with the Shane Graham-trained and driven Reason To Be claiming his second win in five days with a new personal best winning rate of 1.53.2 secured with an Albion Park victory.

Recently inducted in the Queensland Harness Racing Hall of Fame, Frost claimed his second training win of the season when Imthecandyman made it two wins in the week, leading throughout at Redcliffe with Matt Elkins taking the reins.

THIS WEEK

Seven straight meetings will be held in Queensland this week.

The first of seven was held at Marburg on Monday with the Labour Day meeting seeing some spirited racing around the tight 700 metre circuit.

Driving honours were shared on the day with Mathew Neilson and Taleah McMullen both securing wining doubles.

Albion Park will play host to three meetings for the week, with Redcliffe also hosting three.

Complementing the regular Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon slots, a Sunday night fixture will be held at the Peninsula track.

Saturday night at Albion Park will see the running of the 2023 Changeover Classic, the first non-futurity based feature of the season for the two-year-old pacers.

by Darren Clayton, for Racing Queensland