Syndicate having some serious fun

Victorian harness racing hobby trainer Chris Blake and his group of harness racing-mad mates are making some great memories courtesy of the polish he puts on his small team.

The Stawell trainer has only two horses in work at the moment, but he’s been going great guns.

“I’ve always been interested in the sport, starting with listening to the trots on the radio. Horses of the calibre of Lucky Creed and Cocky Raider—but my old favorite was Reichman, prepared by the Hockings,” Blake said.

“Growing up, the dad of one of my best mates was right into the horses. We loved tuning into the meetings, which were standing start races back in those days,” he said.

“When I got married, we had a bit of land, and a few friends were always encouraging me to get into the sport and have a crack. So that’s when it all took off.”

The team is worked on a 630-metre track which carries a slight rise on their 35-acre property, and, for the past few decades, Blake has been training horses for a syndicate including family and friends.

“I’ve got a good mate Neil McLean, who lives in Mt Martha, just out of Melbourne, and he was the main person behind getting the group of owners together. I’ve known Neil for probably 20-plus years, and we have plenty of chats on the phone each week,” he said.

And this season the 10 syndicate members have had plenty to cheer about—thanks to the efforts of two in-form pacers in Tic Tact (A Rocknroll Dance) and Straight Up (Modern Art).

“We had a really great day back in late June at Horsham when they both scored wins. Straight Up led, then handed up and got along the sprint lane. He started at 70/1 which was surprising because he had an ideal barrier. Tic Tact goes well over the short trips—and she’s now won three at that track,” Blake said.

“I’ll race Tic Tact at Bendigo next week and then while she’s racing so well, we will probably look at a suitable Melton race after that.

“She showed at Horsham again that she likes being out in the open. She really does like to get out and run— but her last quarter of 26.7 seconds was a surprise.

“We are enjoying having Ryan Sanderson and his sister Abby driving for us. I don’t give them any instructions because they know what we want. They are really good kids and are a credit to their parents Shane and Naomi.”

In addition to three victories at Horsham, Tic Tact has also won two races at Maryborough, along with successes at Charlton, Ballarat and Stawell. Straight Up has posted five wins at Bendigo, Boort, Terang, Hamilton and Horsham.

Syndicate members include Neil McLean, his wife Freida, Rebecca and Bradley McLean; Mark Bennett and his wife Shiela, Luke and Jack Bennett; and Chris Blake and his daughter Melissa.

“Our daughter Melissa has always loved the sport. She’s been in the cart from the time she was able to get in. She is a teacher at Horsham but still loves popping over and helping out whenever she can,” Blake said.

“Neil attends meetings whenever he can, while the others never miss watching the races on Sky Channel. The syndicate is made-up of the best owners – they’re prepared to spend a bit of money to get the best.

“They don’t mind going that bit higher to get them but it’s quite funny that Tic Tact was more or less offered to us as a broodmare proposition. But when we started racing her, she got better and better with age, so the breeding part has been put on hold.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink