Bandar ready for Brisbane

Southland trotter Smokin Bandar (Monkey Bones) starts his Australian campaign tomorrow night (Jun. 23) at Albion Park, the home of Queensland harness racing.

“He’s really good and he’s handled everything in his stride so far, the travel and staying at different places. He hasn’t missed any tucker and hasn’t been stressing. I’m just watching him in the paddock now. He’s having a roll and a play so he’s certainly feeling pretty good,” trainer Craig Ferguson said.

Ferguson gave the seven year old three fast runs at Menangle before heading north with fellow trainer Jack Trainor.

“It was an eleven hour float trip up here on Monday. I’ve given him a bit of swimming since. He’s probably going into the race on the fresher side of things. It’s better being like that than over the top with all the travel. He’s racing three weeks in a round so you want to be building towards it rather than flattening him at the start.”  

Trainor has taken quality mare Braeview Kelly (Bettor’s Delight) and the Mark Jones trained Hot To Trot (Creatine) up for the Brisbane carnival, along with a handful of other horses. 

Smokin Bandar starts off ten metres in the first heat of the Trotting Championship over 2647 metres.

There are plenty of battle hardened squaregaiters in the field, with eighty one start veteran CK Spur (Pegasus Spur) starting from twenty metres and in form Phoebe Onyx (Wishing Stone) running off the same mark.

“Tonight I’ll sit down and have a real decent look at the field. There are a few ex kiwi horses in there that I know a wee bit about. We’ll know more this week on how he handles the track and the different driving and racing style over here.”

Ferguson says Smokin Bandar is now more adept with the push and shove of top level racing.

“He’s certainly a lot better than he used to be and now, touch wood, he’s pretty bomb proof.”

The top qualifiers in the two heats will start in the $60,000 final on the 30th June. 

At his last start at Addington Smokin Bandar impressively won by two and a half lengths. In his thirty start career the seven year old gelding has won twice over 2600 metres, so the distance (2647 metres) won’t be an issue.

The Albion Park track is 1019 metres with the home straight 197 metres. 

“I’ve seen the track plenty of times on TV. I’ll suss it out tomorrow I guess.”

For complete race entries, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink