Stars and stripes the destination for talented trotter

Friday night’s return could well be a stepping stone to stars and stripes for Always Ready, with Yabby Dam Farms revealing ambitious plans for their talented trotter.

Co-trainer Anton Golino told SEN Track today the stable hoped the five-year-old’s tilt at a star-studded John Slack Memorial Trotters Cup at Ballarat could get the ball rolling for an assault on the US.

“The grand grand plan, we’ll probably race him out this season and then he’ll head to the States,” Golino told the Trots Life program.

“I think he’s the right horse to go over there. He’s got such a good gait, he’s fast out of the gate, he’s got a great attitude and I really think he’ll thrive racing over the mile in those conditions.”

Any trip would likely be made closer to next autumn, “we don’t want to send him in the middle of winter or the middle of summer – that can knock them around a little bit”, and Golino said he’d likely be put into the hands of a US-based trainer.

“The way the world is at the moment it’s impossible (to travel). We will probably look to send him there to Noel Daley, I worked for Noel for a long time so we have a great relationship.”

Always Ready, a stallion, is already standing and a US trip would present more exciting opportunities for his big syndicate, which shares ownership with breeder Yabby Dam Farms. The latter pared stallion Ready Cash with dam Class Of Her Own, a half-sister of six-time Group 1 winner Let Me Thru ($453,945) and Lord Liam ($281,550).

That class will be put to the test Friday night in the Group 3 trot, which is Ballarat’s trotters cup and a leg of the Maori’s Idol Trotting Championship. See fields here.

Always Ready’s drawn gate nine, one of a big back six of which five are first up from a spell.

“He’s probably the most forward I’ve had him as far as returning from a spell,” Golino said. “Last year we were a little bit cautious, we had it in the back of our minds that he had had an injury. I was a little bit wary to work him too hard.

“This time around I’ve approached it a little bit differently and worked him as a normal horse. Last week his trial was really good … they went two minutes over the 2200 at Melton, so it was a pretty good hit-out for a trial.”

Two rows to his outside will be stablemate Im Ready Jet, a four-year-old mare who’s won 11 of her 21 starts and has her first start since running ninth in a Great Southern Star heat in February.

“On sheer talent she’s every bit as good as any horse I’ve had I think, she’s very talented,” Golino said.

“She has had a few little issues. Last year, by her standards, I don’t think she had a great year. I know she won a Breeders Crown, but she threw a couple away, we had a few little issues with her.

“We had some issues with allergies, and then we found she had a little chip in her hock. This time back we popped the chip out, gave her a good spell, she did very well. She trained like a different horse this time.”

So how does he compare the pair?

“She’s very talented, but he’s probably the better racehorse,” he said. “He’s more tractable, he’s a funny horse, he loves to race. He’s got a great attitude, you know he’s going to give every time, she could do anything.

“You get to (this) grade, they’re all good horses in that race. Anything Andy and Kate (Gath) line up is going to be hard to beat, obviously Sundons Courage is a tough horse, Red Hot Tooth’s been an amazing mare.”

CLICK BELOW TO LISTEN TO ANTON GOLINO ON TROTS LIFE:

By Michael Howard from Harness Racing Victoria