Rising star rewards connections for their patience

"Patience is a virtue" penned William Langland in the 14th century – and the words of the noted poet could certainly have been written with a Victorian Western District square-gaiter in mind!

Four-year-old Fremarkspoetry (Majestic Son-A Poem Kept (Safely Kept) has returned from an 18-month layoff, rewarding connections for their patience with a perfect comeback record.

"She's an absolute ripper…a real beauty," said Courtney Slater, who trains under the banner of Goodtime Racing at Beeac, with husband Mark Driscoll.

The titan bay mare showed she'd lost none of her x-factor in her long layoff, making it two-from-two this campaign, with her latest being a faultless exhibition at Maryborough on Monday afternoon.

"We didn't have too many worries with her-she was a little fractious for a few moments before scoring up and that was it. She ended up getting the job done nicely," Slater said.

"Her previous winning effort at Stawell, despite breaking in the score-up and later galloping in the run, was strong, but it showed us that she needs a bit of room and we'll be looking toward the bigger tracks where possible."

Fremarkspoetry, raced by former dairy farmers Fred and Maree Clarke, of Terang, has now raced eight times for an awesome record of six wins, a second placing and an unplaced run for over $55,000 in stakes.

"She has pulled up super. We haven't got any particular races in mind and we'll just take her one step at a time. Obviously toward the end of the year we'll be chasing the features and looking at going through her grades," Slater said.

After finishing second at Melton in early March of last year, the co-trainers and connections made a gut-wrenching decision and turn the horse out.

"It was devastating to miss a lot of the feature events, but she was such a big filly back then. We just had to look at the big picture," Slater said.

"She was sound as a bell. It was just that she was going through a growth spurt and there were a few minor issues as she was growing out.

"It was a real bummer, but we think in the long run it was the best decision. She's just a big girl and we put her in our swim a fair bit now as a precaution to take the pressure off her legs."

Slater said Fremarkspoetry, a homebred mare, had always shown massive potential.

"Mark broke her in and did the majority of her early preparation. He was always telling me she had exceptional ability as well as being strong-minded. They've had a fair journey together!" she said.

Both Mark and Courtney have harness racing in their blood, each being third generation participants. Courtney's parents, Ian and Judi, conduct the highly regarded Goodtime Lodge, while Judi's late father Allan Anderton had a very good horse in Als Court, a winner of 25 races.

Mark has followed in the footsteps of his parents Allan and Margi, who still have at least one going around, while his grandfather was also involved.

"I'm a qualified hairdresser, while Mark was a builder for 20 years. It was probably five years ago when we decided to have a red-hot crack at harness racing," Slater said.

"We bought a farm and set it up. There's an 850-metre track, a swim, 20 boxes, paddocks and a eight horse walker. While we've both driven in races, we're concentrating on the training aspect now.

"I still drive at the trials and I drove at a Wagga Wagga meeting last year, but we're both enjoying taking a backseat.

"Our usual driver Glen Craven, a thorough professional, has been sidelined with a knee injury so we've been using Michael Stanley, who we've found to be terrific and a great thinker."

There's 35 in work at the Goodtime Racing stable, which includes quite a lot of youngsters.

But those racing have been in super form. Apart from the brilliance of their star on the horizon Fremarkspoetry, others stamping their authority have been Goodtime Floyd (three from three), G1 winner Goodtime Heaven (two wins and a second from last three runs) and Luvyoubabe (a recent Stawell winner).

"It's been a handy month. Hopefully we can keep it ticking along," Slater said.

Terry Gange

NewsAlert PR Mildura