New driver needed for 400th start

All is in readiness for iron tough Brisbane based harness racing pacer Destreos and his milestone moment. Well, almost everything. At his next start, it will be start no. 400. Yes, 400 career starts!

The horse affectionately known as Dexter, will become only the second horse in Australian harness racing history to reach the 400-start milestone on his way to surpassing a national record set by former North Queensland star Cane Smoke for most starts (401).

But there will be an unfortunate omission when he steps out next.

Regular driver Kelli Dawson will not be taking the lines behind her favourite pacer.

Dawson was badly injured followed a nasty race fall at Redcliffe last night (Wednesday), injuries sustained include a chipped tail bone and a cracked rib.

Jimboomba based trainer Ken Rattray and his wife Sally Stingel are now weighing up their options on who will partner their twelve-year-old marvel.

“We haven’t made a decision, not yet anyway, our immediate focus is with Kelli and making sure she is comfortable and pain free. We weren’t trackside when the fall took place and when we heard the news; we were shocked and very concerned for Kelli because she is such an important part of Team Dexter.” Stingel said.

And to illustrate the bond between horse and driver, Destreos has won a total of 89 races and Dawson has steered him to victory on 52 occasions.

Dawson took the drive behind Destreos on Tuesday afternoon when he trialed at Albion Park when finishing as a runner-up to emerging four-year-old talent Major Coup in a mile rate of 1:56.6.

Destreos was beaten a half head margin while the final quarter was timed in 27 seconds.

“We were really happy with his trial because as we know, he’s such a good doer between races and he’s had a few niggling issues in recent weeks so we’ve backed off on him a bit. It’s just about three weeks since his last start so we’ll probably trial him again next Tuesday before he starts at Redcliffe on April 2.

“The most pleasing part about his trial was how comfortable he looked, he’s paced a little indifferently at the start at his past two starts and we’ve worked hard on that issue and he looked much better in the trial. He had a good blow after the trial but another trial will have him in better condition before he starts again.

“Obviously whoever drives him in the trial will be with him at Redcliffe but we will make a decision across the weekend. We’ll sit down and look at our options, there are plenty of good drivers going around and we’ll look at everybody before Ken makes the call.”

Both the Redcliffe Harness Club and the Albion Park Harness Racing Club are eagerly looking forward to embracing this milestone moment in the coming weeks.

As it stands, Destreos has won a record 68 races at Albion Park from 297 starts – a record that has seen him tagged as the “King Of The Creek” while he has managed 4 wins from 16 starts at the smaller Redcliffe circuit.

The New Zealand bred pacer has amassed almost $730,000 in prizemoney.

Destreos Fun Fact;

Q. How many sets of hopples has Destreos gone through since making his Queensland debut back on August 15, 2008?

A. 4