Terra night for punters

Through necessity was born the remedy in returning Caledonian Terra (Western Terror) to the harness racing winner’s stall at Melton. 

The James Warnock trained eight-year-old hadn’t saluted since scoring on his home track at Geelong 12 months ago when he faced the starter as the $126 rank outsider in the Waste Sense Pace on Wednesday night. 

Driver Paul Warnock latched onto the three wide trail in the back straight before ‘going for home’ when his charge forged to the lead approaching the home turn. 

Under Warnock’s urgings, Caledonian Terra responded admirably and held a metre margin on the line from Testified and Highview Hammer. 

Warnock admitted he had several glances to assess the proximity of his rivals in the home straight. 

“I knew they would come I just didn’t know when, so I kept my eye on them in the straight,” Warnock said. 

Warnock said he followed his father’s pre-race instructions.  

“For a while there I thought I’d gone too early but with him you just have to keep going- I remember one night Greg (Sugars) took off at the 600 and he won,” he said. 

“Dad told me to put him in the race and they had run a quick lead time and I knew I had the leader covered coming off the back.” 

Caledonian Terra had started at cricket score odds at his previous three starts however Warnock revealed a recent unintended change in training had produced an immediate effect. 

“The horse normally has his last fast work before a race around two to three days out but Dad had a few horses to fast work in at Geelong, so he took Caledonian Terra in to the track five days ago and it’s obviously worked,” he said. 

“I suppose older horses need more recovery time and he felt a lot sharper tonight.” 

Caledonian Terra took two years to break his maiden status. 

“Dad always said the Western Terrors took time and he showed a lot of patience with him,” he said. 

“He’s a horse who pops up when you least expect it.” 

Warnock acknowledged the efforts of the trainer. 

“Dad has done a great job with him-he has put a lot of time into him,” he said. 

For complete race results, click here.

by John Dunne, for Harnesslink