Shane Walkinshaw bags three roughies at Winton

Ryal Bush harness racing trainer Shane Walkinshaw has had plenty on his plate lately but it is obviously not affecting his driving as he showed at Winton yesterday with a trio of lovely drives that got three double figure winners home.

First up was one for the boss Hamish Hunter in the form of Stanley Ross Robyn.

Shane sent him out of the gate early to lead before taking a trail after 500 metres behind the well supported Paddy McCole.

Once the passing lane presented itself in the home straight, the race was all over in a few strides with Stanley Ross Robyn bolting clear for an emphatic victory with Shane sitting as quiet as in the bike.

It was win one at start four for the son of Extreme Three and Shane has always had a bit of time for him.

" It is only bad luck that he hasn't won a race before now."

"Bad draws haven't helped and he has had no racing luck but he is way better than a maiden"

"I thought he was way over the odds at $10:90 to be honest," Shane said.

The second winner was another Hamish Hunter trainee in Understudy.

Shane burned him off the gate early from barrier five to find the lead which he kept for the first 1000 metres before trailing Majjestic Breeze.

When that horse took a trail  at the 600 metres mark Understudy got dragged back a touch on the home turn.

Shane navigated a passage through the traffic and half way up the lane burst through and grabbed the lead for quite a smart victory.

The win dividend of $22:10 didn't surprise Shane.

" He hadn't really shown anything prior to yesterday so the dividend is about right."

" I used him out the gate to find the lead and then he got held up across the top so to go on and win like that was a good effort."

" He was actually getting away from them the last little bit."

" They ran the 2400 metres in 2:58.6 as well which is a great time so he has gone up a lot in my opinion on that run," Shane said.

The third winner that Shane drove yesterday was the Trevor Proctor trained three year old filly Tact Rousey.

Drawn poorly at 13 for the mile journey, Shane got a nice run through to be up in the leading group early on but was then left wide for the next 600 metres before finding the death seat at the 950 metre mark.

At that point the hot favourite Kashana galloped in the trail and Shane was able to angle Tact Rousey down into the trail behind the leader Millwood Maizie. 

As soon as the passing lane became available, Tact Rousey shot through and grabbed the lead and went on for a very narrow but smart win in a sharp 1:55.4

Shane again thought the win price of $14:10 was way over the odds.

" Since the first time I sat behind this filly at the trials I have really liked her." 

" Her last start second behind Pat Campbell was really good so she was way over the odds at $14."

"Yesterdays run had plenty of merit as she was wide for over 600 metres before finding the death."

" Being able to slip into the trail certainly helped but it was still a super run," Shane said.

Shane is presently in his twelth season of driving and he seems in career best form with his current season UDR of .2091 his best since he started driving.

Harnesslink Media