Stable looking to rewrite history in Breeders Crown

The rampaging Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin harness racing stable could rewrite history at Melton on Saturday night (Nov. 19).

There are six major Breeders Crown pacing finals on the night and Stewart and Tonkin are well placed to win the lot. That’s never happened before.

Sure, they’ll need some luck, but they have quality and quantity on their side.

Harness racing’s power couple has a remarkable 24 of the 64 runners across the six finals – that’s 37.5 percent of the starters.

But the quality is even more impressive.

Stewart and Tonkin have the favourite in all six finals and first and second favourites in five of those.

Stable driver Mark Pitt is in awe of the dominance and thrilled to be a key part of it.

“I was just saying to Clayton (Tonkin) last week, for all the great young horses they’ve had over the years, this would have to be the best crop of all,” he said.

“There are superstar two, three and four-year-old’s amongst them – boys and girls. It’s incredible.”

The headline act would still be champion mare Ladies In Red (Mach Three), who’s 21 wins from just 26 starts and six Group 1 victories have stamped her as the best modern-day pacing mare Australia has produced.

She is $1.70 favourite to add the Group 2 Breeders Crown 4YO Mares’ title (race five) ahead of stablemate and arch-rival Tough Tilly ($2.10).

But the recent stable addition Captain Ravishing (Captaintreacherous) has everybody talking.

The raw and largely untapped three-year-old has looked breathtaking at times in his five wins from just six starts for Stewart and Tonkin.

“He’s just amazing to drive,” Pitt said. “He’s so fast and he’s still getting better every time he goes to the races.”

Captain Ravishing is a $1.20 favourite from gate five in the $200,000 Breeders Crown 3YO colts and geldings’ final (race nine).

Despite all that, Pitt was most glowing about unbeaten filly Major Delight (Bettor’s Delight), who is $1.30 to make it nine wins from as many starts from barrier one in the Crown 2YO fillies’ final (race four).

“We haven’t seen a filly like her in a long time,” he said after her semi-final last week. “She’s still a bit green. I think when she works it out completely, she’s going to be top of the tree.”

Remember, it was two years ago when Ladies In Red stunningly dominated her juvenile filly season.

Is Pitt saying Major Delight could be better?

Stewart and Tonkin’s Victoria Oaks winner Encipher (Captaintreacherous) is a $1.40 favourite in the $200,000 Crown 3YO fillies’ final (race eight) where they have qualified an unbelievable eight of the 12 finalists.

The stable also has the first two favourites – Act Now (Somebeachsomewhere) ($1.80) and Beyond Delight (Bettor’s Delight) ($3.20) – in race 10, the Group 2 Crown 4YO entires and geldings.

If there is a “risk” race, it is certainly the $300,000 Crown final for 2YO colts and geldings (race six), but Stewart and Tonkin have four the 12 finalists, including $2.30 equal favourite The Lost Storm (Captaintreacherous) and $6.50 third elect Techys Watching (He’s Watching).

The Lost Storm has only been beaten once when second to the Russell Jack-trained School Captain (Captaintreacherous) when he had to sit outside him and the same could happen again with School Captain drawn to lead from gate two and The Lost Storm outside him in five.

For complete race fields, click here.

by Adam Hamilton, for Newscorp