Queensland Harness Racing Wrap

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

THE GOOD

Grant Dixon displayed why he has been the leading trainer in Australia for eight of the past nine seasons, rising to the fore on Saturday night to train the half of the winners on the big 10-race card.

Putting the performance into more perspective, Dixon had no runners in races one, four or 10, meaning the stable was able to claim five of the seven races they were competing in.

The night started with victory to Majorca in the race that held the most sentiment for Dixon, the five-year-old mare claiming The Bill Dixon at Listed level, a race named in honour of Grant’s father.

It was a tough win by the five-year-old mare, circling the field soon after the start to sit outside the leader, Going For Gold.

Fighting hard, it was a dominant victory by the Art Major mare that extended her record to five wins from six starts since joining the Dixon stable, with her only ‘miss’ the narrowest of second placings last week in the Peak of the Creek Final.

The second winner came just one race later when Governor Jujon, the 2020 Queensland three-year-old of the year claimed a tough victory in the Band 5 Final.

In a season that has been hampered by setbacks, it was just the fourth time that Governor Jujon has raced, however the four-year-old showed he has lost no desire, claiming a tough victory over the 2138-metre journey after starting from gate 11.

Preparing two runners in the two-year-old feature, Dixon was able to claim the quinella with Leap To Fame leading home Racy Roxy.

Overcoming the disappointment of missing the New South Wales Breeders Challenge Final, Leap To Fame had to be driven hard out of the gate, but once in control was never headed.

It was the seventh win this season for the colt, all those wins coming at Albion Park.

Win number four on the night was a bittersweet moment with Fame Assured claiming the Group 2 Forever Gold Mares with a strong finishing burst along the passing lane.

It was career start 100 for Fame Assured and as owner Kevin Seymour relayed after the race, would be her last, heading to the breeding barn to start the next chapter of her career.

Retiring with 24 victories and a career best 1.50.8 set at Menangle, her final victory pushed her stakes in excess of $300,000.

The final leg of the training quintet came in the Changeover Mares Classic with wife Trista guiding Lady Avana to a last stride victory.

In claiming the win by a neck margin, Trista relegated Grant to second placing with Jasper, the stable claiming their second quinella of the night with Grant taking four driving wins.

It was the 13th time that Grant has trained 5 winners at a meeting, the last time he achieved that feat was in July, 2019.

On that night, Fame Assured and Governor Jujon were also amongst the winners.

Stretching his season to tally to 197 winners, Dixon is now within 7 wins of Ben Yole who currently leads the Australian training title.

THE BAD

Race three on Saturday night was the first of the five Group races on the card and an upset victory scuttled the hopes of those that had supported the well-fancied pair of Big Wheels and Captain Nemo.

After settling three-back along the peg line, Montana Flash did exactly that when extricated into clear space at the top of the stretch by driver Brendan Barnes, charging down the outside to claim the Garrards 3YO Colts and Geldings Classic.

Forgotten about in the market, Montana Flash was sent out as a $61 chance as Big Wheels was heavily supported to start as the $2.10 favourite.

While it may have been a bad result for those who took the short price for Big Wheels, anyone securing the luxurious odds of the winner were no doubt on good terms with themselves.

Big Wheels was sent to the front soon after the start, while from inside the second line, Montana Flash was soon hemmed away as Scotch En Ice followed through from gate one to secure the trail.

With no moves from back in the pack until the field approached the 400-metre point, Barnes was able to ease away from the pegs and soon had the Art Major gelding in open space.

Once balanced up, the gelding sprinted hard and soon reeled in the leader and charged past to claim victory by nearly four metres.

The 1.56.3 winning time for the 2138 metres was a new best winning mile rate for Montana Flash in claiming the eighth win of his career.

Owned by Will Jones and trained by Darrel Graham, it has been a solid season from Montana Flash who has won six of his 16 race starts for the term.

Jones always has a handy horse to his name, with Montana Flash looking like a readymade replacement for Montana Chief, both purchased by Jones from Montana Park as three-year-olds.

‘Chief’ was sold to the United States over two months back, the gelding claiming 15 race wins, 40 placings and over $120,000 in stakes following his purchase.

THE MILESTONE

Having recently trained his 500th career winner, Daren Garrard trained his first winner at Group level on Saturday night when preparing Sir Fahrenheit to victory.

After what, on paper, seemed an awkward draw inside the second line, the race opened perfectly to allow Angus Garrard into the clear at exactly the right time.

Sprinting hard down the outside, Sir Fahrenheit reel in the leader Majestic Simon to claim victory with a margin of nearly two metres.

Last week’s feature winner Red Castleton snuck though between runners to grab second, leaving Majestic Simon to hold on for third.

It was a special moment for the Garrard family, as the win also provided 18-year-old Angus with his maiden Group level success, and a 330th overall win to boot.

Daren has had Sir Fahrenheit in his stable for 18 starts after taking over the training of the seven-year-old from previous trainer Donny Smith earlier this year.

Since joining the Garrard team, Sir Fahrenheit has six wins and six placings, with an Albion Park track record over the 2,647 metres standing start and now a Group 2 win from the mobile start in his haul.

Angus has developed an affinity with the square gaiter, having driven the gelding in 45 of his 48 starts since arriving in Queensland from the South Island of New Zealand, with 11 of those being race victories.

There were emotional scenes at the race presentation on Saturday night, with the Garrard family who give so much to racing across the country, taking a moment to claim their own piece of feature success.

With Sir Fahrenheit in the nominations for the upcoming Inter Dominion, has the Group 2 win stamped the ticket for a trip south?

THE WILDCARD

The Crone family had their own special moment on Wednesday night at Redcliffe, with Kay claiming a training double and son Matt driving both horses to victory.

Kicking off the double was the five-year-old mare Fremarksindi who has hit a purple patch of form with three wins and three placings in her past six starts.

Despite starting from barrier nine, Matt quickly had the mare in the one-by-one trail as the field was stretched out in the early stages.

Sitting patiently until the 500-metre point, Matt then angled Fremarksindi out of the running line to commence a three-wide move.

Once moving off the turn, Crone was able to balance the mare and she owned the best finishing speed to cruise home to take victory.

The triumph was a real family affair with Fremarksindi owned by Matt’s sister Sami, with the win the sixth win since joining the Crone stable in July of 2020.

It was Fremarksindi that also provided Matt with his first ever race win back in October last year.

Just one race later, the Crone’s had Schooby stepping out as the race favourite after the five-year-old had drawn gate one over the sprint trip of 1780 metres.

Sending the gelding straight to the front once the barrier pulled clear of the field, the pair were never in danger, leading throughout to a comfortable victory.

In claiming the race-to-race double, Matt also secured himself his first ever driving double in bringing up career win number 13.

With 17 wins this season for Kay Crone, the milestone moment of 100 training wins is in sight.

The training double at Redcliffe pushed Kay into the ‘nervous 90s’ having now trained 91 winners in her career since taking out a training licence in the 2015/16 season.

THIS WEEK

It will be a full week of harness racing action over the next seven days in Queensland with a meeting held every day of the week.

The action will kick off with a Monday night meeting from Redcliffe, with the Peninsula Club also hosting their regular Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon fixtures.

Albion Park reverts to their more regular spots this week after hosting the Thursday fixtures the past two weeks, and will be the scene of three race meetings for the week.

Tuesday will see nine races decided while the other meetings are a Friday night card to complement the Saturday night metropolitan fixture.

This week, the qualifying pace over the flying mile will have additional stakes added, the $20,000 event sure to be keenly contested.

The week will be rounded out with a Sunday afternoon meeting from Marburg, always a great day out in the country.

By Darren Clayton for Racing Queensland