Queensland harness racing wrap

Catch up on the week’s Queensland harness racing action, thanks to Darren Clayton.

THE GOOD

Last Wednesday night at Redcliffe was a bittersweet moment for Warwick horseman Andrew Millard when claiming his maiden training victory.

Around horses all his life, Millard only presented his first race starter back in November when Feeling The Power stepped out fresh up from a spell.

David ‘Paddy’ Millard, Andrew’s father, was the trainer of the Millard family stable, however Paddy sadly succumbed to his battle with cancer in June, 2021.

With the Millard-trained runners all sent for a winter spell, the team have started their latest campaigns under the tutelage of Andrew.

Feeling The Power was the last runner that Paddy sent to the track and the gelding would also be his last winner, less than 24 hours before passing.

It was Feeling The Power that would be Andrew’s last driving winner for his Dad, and on November 12, became his first ever starter as a trainer in his own right.

The number 13 may be an unlucky number for some, yet for Andrew Millard it would become fortuitous, when Sunny Cove secured his first training winner as his 13th starter.

In his first two starts, the three-year-old gelding has shown that he possesses plenty of ability, but that he still has much to learn to furnish into a complete racehorse.

A beaten favourite in those first two race starts, it would prove third time lucky for Sunny Cove, sent straight to the front soon after the start by Millard.

Despite some wayward tendencies, the Sunshine Beach gelding proved far too classy for his rivals in claiming a huge win, with the margin officially recorded at 21.1 metres.

It was a certainly a sentimental moment with Sunny Cove bred in partnership by Andrew and his late father, and claiming the victory as the owner, trainer and driver.

The win also secured the $12,000 QBRED first win bonus with his first three performances indicating that there will be many more wins in store once his racing manners can be ironed out.

With a small team based out of Warwick on the Southern Downs, Millard has had three runners represent the stable to date.

Be On The Sly is the third runner seen thus far, with Little Bolt, the Listed four-year-old Triad winner, yet to resume for his six-year-old term.

With a lifetime of skills garnered through time spent with his late father and with the apparent ability of Sunny Cove, there looks to be many more chapters to the Millard family story to be written on the harness track.

THE BAD

A Group 1 winner is a pinnacle that almost every owner dreams of reaching.

For Jamie Durnberger-Smith, he has dreamt of climbing that mountain since he was a young lad bitten hard by the horse racing bug.

A highly driven individual, anyone that knows Jamie will agree that when he sets his mind on something, he invariably finds a way to achieve it.

Encountering plenty of lows along the way, to the point that he was anointed with the rather unfortunate title of “The Black Cloud” the past 18 months have been on an upward trajectory.

Establishing the aptly named Summit Bloodstock with good friend, South Australian Jake Webster, season ’21 ended with a perfect match to the SB tagline – Reach The Peak.

It has been a hugely successful season for the team at Summit Bloodstock, which saw the team have runners in the inaugural The Rising Sun, the inaugural Peak of the Creek and the Inter Dominion Final for both the pacers and the trotters amongst many other feature events.

It was on the last night of the season at Melton, Parisian Artiste provided the Airlie Beach-based Durnberger-Smith with a dream achieving victory.

Love You gelding Parisian Artiste claimed success in the Group 1 Vicbred Three-Year-Old Colts and Geldings Trotters Final for trainer Alex Ashwood and driver Tayla French.

The win providing the owners, trainer and driver, all with their maiden Group 1 victory.

Ending the season on such a high, the Summit Bloodstock team were back in winning form at Albion Park on Saturday with Deus Ex and followed it with a double on Sunday at Redcliffe courtesy of Im Loki and Battlecraft.

It has been a wild ride in a short space of time for all involved, with recently retired Westar Sam placed high on the pedestal of achievements Summit Bloodstock has secured.

Westar Sam was the first horse that Durnberger-Smith and Webster purchased in their fledgling bloodstock enterprise, with the recently retired gelding claiming twenty wins in just two years for the pair.

And after finally achieving the dream of claiming a Group 1 winner, has the sky cleared for Jamie?

Perhaps not yet, a COVID storm the latest cloud to unleash its fury, preventing a trip to Melton to witness first-hand his milestone moment.

THE MILESTONE

With a team of just three horses in work, trainer Mark McNee claimed a unique achievement at Redcliffe last Thursday.

Preparing Lifes Black and La Safron to do battle in the same race, McNee claimed the race quinella with his pair of geldings, the first time he has been able to claim a one-two finish.

It was La Safron driven by Lachie Manzelmann that claimed the victory, edging out Lifes Black with Chloe Butler aboard, with a winning margin of one-and-a-half metres.

The race was the last race of the 2021 season at Redcliffe and the win by La Safron capped a stellar season at the Peninsula Club.

The eight-year-old started on 42 occasions for the year at Redcliffe, with the latest victory his seventh for the term.

With the victory on Thursday, La Safron put himself right in contention to claim the Redcliffe Horse of the Year title, finishing runner-up on a further nine occasions, with three third placings also to his name.

Demonstrating his durability and consistency throughout the season, La Safron has proven a great money-spinner for McNee and co-owners Shane and Neeta Malone.

Purchased for the modest sum of just $4,000 in November 2020, it was not until July 2021 that La Safron was able to claim his first victory under McNee’s care.

However, with that victory, the key to his run of success was unlocked.

“I took all the gear off him, the lot, and went back to scratch,” McNee said.

“Not only that, I had been told that he cannot cop any work, but after he performed strongly at his third race in just over a week, I decided to change his training around and really pile the work into him.”

The change in gear and increased workload has proven a masterstroke, the gelding having banked over $25,000 for connections between July 26 and December 30.

Not only has the second half of his season been so consistent, La Safron has been able to provide several highlights in 2021, including being the 200th training success for McNee when winning on November 15.

That night McNee also claimed a training double when Lifes Black had scored earlier on the same card.

Although mostly leaving the race driving to those competing more regularly, La Safron this season was also able to provide McNee with his last winner in the sulky back in July.

That win was at huge odds, closing on fixed price at $71 after as much as $151 had been offered in earlier markets.

Searching his record this season, La Safron ended the term with the unique distinction of competing in both the first and last races of the year at Redcliffe.

La Safron now heads for a short break, with McNee unsure what the future holds.

“He is getting a bit long in the tooth now, so I’m not sure if he is up to another full season with the amount of racing he had this year, but time will tell,” McNee said.

If father time does catch up, the next task will be finding a suitable replacement.

THE WILDCARD

Angus Garrard completed his most successful season in his brief career by steering home 164 winners for the 2021 term.

Still just 18-years-old, Angus started the 2022 season in the perfect manner with an all the way win aboard Key Largo for trainer Mark Dux.

Firing off the gate to take control in the early stages, Angus kept a genuine tempo aboard the eight-year-old, with a 27.5-second closing quarter enough to hold on from Keayang Marven, with Ohoka Chopper filling third.

The win was the fourth time Garrard has partnered with Key Largo for victory, having developed a strong rapport since taking the drive regularly aboard the son of Somebeachsomewhere.

Having his first drive aboard the gelding back in September when recording a narrow second placing, the latest win takes Garrard’s record to 13: 4-4-2 behind Key Largo.

There was also a touch of symmetry with the victory which was the first race of the new season in Queensland.

Key Largo kicked off season ’22 by claiming his 22nd career victory, with 20 of those wins now recorded when the gelding has been able to lead in his races.

The victory by Key Largo meant that Taleah McMullen was unable to recreate her victory from the first race of the ’21 season.

Taleah has been aboard the race favourite in the first race of each of the past two seasons, winning the first of 2021 aboard Corindhap Creek.

Taking the drive aboard It Aint The Money on Saturday, the gelding was unable to match the early speed of Key Largo and then broke gait soon after.

Despite resetting and finishing strongly, It Aint The Money could only manage fourth placing, costing McMullen the opportunity to make it successive years in claiming the first Queensland race of the season.

THIS WEEK

The first full week of the new season is upon us and there will be six meetings held in Queensland.

Albion Park will host three of these meetings with an eight-race card to start the week on Tuesday which will be complemented with a Friday afternoon meeting and Saturday night’s metropolitan fixture.

Redcliffe will host two meetings, with 10 races set for decision at each of the Wednesday night and Thursday race meetings.

On Wednesday night, two heats of the Knights and Dames Series will be held, with the Final to be held at the Saturday night metropolitan fixture to be held on The Triangle on Saturday January 15.

A Sunday afternoon from Marburg will round out the week, with all races offering a QBRED cash bonus to any winners that are QBRED-eligible.

By Darren Clayton for Racing Queensland