Veteran trainer gets reward for effort

Longtime Goulburn Valley harness racing trainer Dennis Paton isn’t one to give up too easily.

Over the past few seasons, he’s had some frustrating times with five-year-old trotter Lizzies Son (Majestic Son), but now Paton is confident things are changing for the better.

The gelding didn’t put a foot wrong in his latest victory in the up to 39 class event at Bendigo last Wednesday (Feb 19).

“He’s one of the nicest horses you’d ever get. He’s just a little gentleman and deserves to get a bit of success,” Paton, who celebrates his 75th birthday tomorrow, said.

Winning as a 2yo at Ballarat in September, 2022, Lizzies Son looked terrific – but Paton said since then he’d battled a few issues.

“He got sick and ended up with fluid on his lungs and took a good while to get over that –then he got bitten by a white tail spider on his neck,” he said.

“The horse has actually done a good job because he’s won three races now, with four placings.”

Paton and his wife Shirley, who have a training property at Harston, halfway between Stanhope and Tatura, breed and race only their own horses.

“We prefer the square-gaiters and probably haven’t raced a pacer for at least 10 to 15 years. We’ve got great breeding lines that started when we were lucky enough to get a loan of Sheza Cop (Keystone Gondola),” he said.

“Some good friends of ours John and Anne Heath, who live up near Sydney, were in drought in the mid-2000s and we offered to take some of their horses because we had green pastures everywhere.”

Sheza Cop is the dam of outstanding trotter Arizona Blue, a winner of 21 races and 13 placings for earnings of over $236K in the period between 2009 to 2011.

The Patons put Sheza Cop in foal to American sire Sierra Kosmos and the resultant foal was Sheza Comment.

Sheza Comment (Sierra Kosmos) was unraced but produced good performers including Milly’s Magic (Majestic Son) 20 wins and 44 placings; Lord Lohki (The Pres) 10 wins, 29 placings;  Sheza Pleasure (Bacardi Lindy), winner of the 2020 Homegrown 2yo Trotting Fillies G1 of $50,000 among 10 wins and14 placings; and Sheza Amason (Skyvalley), five wins, 19 placings.

Lizzie’s Son is her latest foal to race.

“So for one favor for John and Anne, we’ve been repaid 10 times over!” Paton said.

“We’ve got a full brother and a half-brother to Lizzies Son and some nice colts from the same family by Elite Stride, Majestic Son and Pastor Stephen. There’s also a very talented 2yo named Speedy Comet (Speeding Spur) who has never had a prep when things have gone right,” he said.

Paton was born and bred in Flemington, one of 11 siblings.

“Dad wasn’t a horse person and mum used to milk cows and stuff like that, but when I moved to Tasmania, I helped a guy with a horse that we got going to win a race. I guess that’s where it started.”

Paton began a working life that would involve a diversity of trades and businesses, and, when he shifted to Daylesford he began working horses around the back roads.

“I won at my first race drive on a horse named Granlin (Grand Monarch) at Maryborough. That would be over 50 years ago,” Paton said.

“We moved about a bit.  We lived at Harcourt for a while, then went dairy farming at Tatura and ran a pub in Violet Town. My wife trained a nice little horse called Champagne Bay at one stage and won four or five races,” he said.

“We don’t race all that many now and just concentrate on breeding and racing our own.  I still do my own shoeing and we thoroughly enjoy every winner we get,” he said.

For complete race results, click here.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink