Sofia leads the way for Fitzpatrick stable

He’s one of the state’s leading harness racing drivers, but Blake Fitzpatrick is quite happy to take a back seat in a lot of Menangle races these days.

That’s because former Victorian horsewoman Sofia Arvidsson has become one of Fitzpatrick’s stable stars since she moved north to link with his Cawdor team a couple of months ago.

Arvidsson has an amazing strike rate at Menangle, earnings placings at almost 50 per cent of her drives and winning about once every five drives.

She heads to the south-western Sydney track on Tuesday with four serious chances, three of them square-gaiters, and all four trained by Fitzpatrick.

Yet Blake intends to ensure she earns those wins as he will be out to beat her in two of those races when he partners stablemates against her.

The pair could easily fight out Race 1 with Vitellius (Fitzpatrick) and Burkhardt (Arvidsson) showing plenty of promise and vying for favouritism in a heat of the HRNSW Trotters Foundation series for two-year-olds.

“Both youngsters are promising,” said Fitzpatrick.

“Vitellius won well last start, is quite well-bred and really continues to improve with each run and is very strong and can make his own luck.

“Burkhardt, on the other hand, has really good gate speed and is very professional so he will probably be in front and that is quite an advantage when you’re racing over a mile at Menangle.”

Blake drives My Double Delight in Race 2 and although still a maiden says the trotter is busting to win a race and deserves to break through.

“But Florencita (Arvidsson) is a nice filly who made a break out of the gate last week and will hopefully go better today,” he said.

“There’s not a lot between these two but from the good draw I think My Double Delight probably has the edge.”

Arvidsson also partners the consistent Dance Secret in Race 3.

“Sofia knows she’ll need to make this a staying test and that’s the way he has to be driven and he looks a winning chance,” said Fitzpatrick.

She also partners Breivika against a handy field of mares in Race 7 today.

“She showed a lot of ability as a two-year-old but lost her way a bit in her three-year-old season and now seems to have come back a much stronger horse this time and has been racing consistently.

“She well drawn today and should get a good trip from there.”

For complete Menangle Tuesday race fields, click here.

by Michael Court, for HRNSW