Cinderella star of Central ball

Cinderella Franco (Ultimate Machete) trained by Steven McRae has been one of the stars on the Central Otago harness racing circuit this year and her two recent wins demonstrate she’s a mare with plenty of potential.

Today at Cromwell driver Gemma Thornley quickly took Cinderella Franco to the lead and although she looked under pressure at the top of the straight, she proved to be too good and beat Burnham Girl by three and a half lengths.

“Gemma said that with the full blinds on so she may not have seen the other horse on the outside of her. Once she gave her a squeeze she took off on her own and the hood was still on,” McRae said.

CINDERELLA FRANCO REPLAY

Owned by Spreydon Lodge Ltd and the Organ Donation Saves Lives Syndicate, McRae mentioned that Cinderella Franco hadn’t inspired her connections early on.

“Twelve months ago she was pretty much middle of the pack and there was nothing too exciting about her at all. In the last two or three months she’s really jumped out of the ground. It’s nice to get a pleasant surprise that way because sometimes they can surprise you the other way.”

McRae says he can’t put his finger on the reason for her marked improvement.

“It was a couple of months ago that her work had really sharpened up. From that point we thought we might have a nice one, but we had to qualified her and we had a few issues round that time. She’s probably only had two trials before she came down to race. She’s still pretty green with a lot to learn.”

The win was her second in as many starts. Her first win was at Omakau four days ago.

“I’ve been more impressed with the way she’s done everything. With the ringcraft she hasn’t really got she handled things pretty good. Omakau can be a pretty tricky track for first starters and in her first start on the grass she’s taken everything in her stride.”

Because she was driven by a junior driver, today,s win by Cinderella Franco was penalty free.

“She’s only a rating 40 and I think she’ll handle that grade alright. The way she’s going she might end up up the grades quickly enough. We’ll just take it start by start from here.”

For complete race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink