Stewart trains the whole card at Kilmore

Champion trainer Emma Stewart became just the second Victorian harness racing trainer to win the “card” at Kilmore last night.

It wasn’t an ordinary midweek meeting, either. All eight races were qualifying heats of the rich Vicbred series.

Shayne Cramp won all eight races at a lowly Mildura meeting on July 15, 2014.

Remarkably, Stewart’s eight-win haul is not her best at a single race meeting.

She holds the Australasian record with nine wins on two occasions, the most recent on Vicbred semi-finals night at Melton on September 9, last year. That night, she won nine of the 12 races.

Stewart also won nine of ten races at Launceston on April 16, 2022.

Stewart and co-trainer Clayton Tonkin have made the Vicbred series their own since 2018.

Along with last night’s deeds in the three-year-old pacing heats, they opened this year’s Vicbred series by winning five of the seven two-year-old pacing heats they had runners in at Bendigo.

So, Stewart has won 13 of the 16 heats run so far.

Her rampage should continue in tonight’s four-year-old pacing heats at Melton, where she trains the favourite in four of the six qualifiers.

Most interest will focus on High Above (race six) and Perfect Class (race eight), who are both still in contention for a slot in the world’s richest race, the $2.1mil TAB Eureka at Menangle tomorrow week.

In 2018, Stewart won 24 of the 34 Vicbred pacing heats before going on to win five Group 1 finals.

Her best haul came last year with 19 heat wins, which led to a staggering six Group 1 final wins.

This year’s Vicbred semi-finals are tomorrow week, which means a clash with the huge TAB Eureka meeting at Menangle.

It will put a huge strain on the availability of drivers at Melton that night, with four of the seven drivers who won races for Stewart last night – Mark Pitt, Greg Sugars, Kate Gath, and Cam Hart – set to drive at Menangle instead.

Stewart will have TAB Eureka runners and has only confirmed one driver – Ashleigh Delosa (on Major Delight) – at this stage.

She also has Bay Of Biscay in the race, and slot holders Aaron Bain Racing & Summit Bloodstock have confirmed they will also go with a Stewart-trained pacer in their slot, most likely Perfect Class or High Above.

Stewart will have at least 30 runners on the same night across the Vicbred semi-finals.

For complete race results, click here.

by Adam Hamilton, for Harness Racing Australia