Tears of joy in Cobram Trotters Cup win

Driver Shannon O’Sullivan choked back tears as she spoke about the harness racing win of Dont Care (Used To Me) in Sunday’s Central Murray Credit Union Cobram Trotters Cup.

O’Sullivan claimed one of the biggest triumphs of her career when she guided the Kate Hargreaves-trained squaregaiter to a narrow success in the $30,000 Group 3 event.

She wiped her eyes as she embraced Hargreaves on the track and then battled her emotions in a special post-race interview on TrotsVision.

“It’s just a pleasure to drive him,” O’Sullivan said.

“I was a bit upset after the Vicbreds because I knew what he could do and what he was producing at home. I had a bit (to do) with him before the Vicbreds – I jogged him the day before and done his fast works as well before then.

“My race that I drove on him at Bendigo (December 9) was the prep for the Vicbred, so I sort of knew what he was feeling and what he could do. I think he should have won it.

“He’s got a heart of gold. Kate and the team down there – Cam and Justin – they put a lot of work into this horse and they’ve looked after him.

“It’s just really nice to be thought of (and) be put on him afterwards…”

O’Sullivan balanced up Dont Care from his 10m handicap and eventually worked forward to find the lead down the back straight the second time. And that’s where he stayed, fighting off a spirited challenge from Sheza Pleasure in the sprint home to score by a head on the line.

DONT CARE REPLAY

The result followed a runner-up placing to Locksley Lover in the Vicbred Super Series final for four-year-old trotting entires and geldings on New Year’s Eve, and takes Dont Care’s career record to 12 wins from 28 starts.

David Moran trained and drove the great Lochinvar Art to victory in the Jim Phillips Memorial Cobram Pacing Cup in 2020 and emulated those feats with Curly James (A Rocknroll Dance) on Sunday.

The lightly-raced five-year-old led from barrier six and his rivals couldn’t catch him as he zipped home in closing quarters of 27.7 and 27.3 to beat Serg Blanco by a head.

Like Lochinvar Art, Curly James was first-up from a break when he scored in the $35,000 event.

“I think Arty won it a few years ago first-up and it was the same sort of thing. He had a really good grounding and probably had a couple of trials,” Moran said.

“Curly James is the same. Full credit to (part-owner) Courtney Laker, she does a lot of work with the horse, and he had probably been in work three months before he had his first trial.

“He’s had a really good grounding. We didn’t exactly have this certain race picked out for him, it was just timing on how he came up, how he went through his trials and got through them to where we were going to go.”

Curly James has now won nine of 18 starts for just over $70,000 in prizemoney.

CURLY JAMES REPLAY