Third time lucky for Step It Up A Notch

It was third time lucky for the Lyndon Bond trained harness racing pacer Step It Up A Notch (Rock N Roll Heaven) in today’s $30,000 Macca Lodge ‘Trained South Of The Waitaki’ Mobile Pace at Addington.

The gelding finished ninth in the 2022 edition and fifth last year, so the win was well deserved.

The race had multiple leaders but Step It Up A Notch was the last horse to take the top and he was the ultimate winner.

“That probably played into our hands going so hard early and it opened the field up a bit. I was lucky to get off when I did and I took the bull by the horns. I’ve driven this fellow a few times and I knew he would stick it out. I took luck out of it, went to the front and he did the rest,” driver Sam Ottley said.

STEP IT UP A NOTCH REPLAY

The winning margin was three quarters of a length from Itoje with an unlucky Ultimate Challenge a head back in third.

Step It Up A Notch qualified at Ashburton for Canterbury trainer Stephen Boyd and was sent south to Bond’s stable for his racing career.

“We ended up buying him off Stephen as a three year old because he got on a knee. Stephen was after the top quality clear gaited horses. We bought three off him – So Art I, Beez Neez and Step It Up A Notch. Stephen’s been an integral part of getting my team up and going,” Bond said.

It was the tenth win for Step It Up A Notch, his first at Addington. Driver Sam Ottley has driven him in four of those successes.

“She’s a great driver to have onboard. She does a great job.”

The Canterbury based driver has driven twenty one winners for Bond whose career tally now stands at seventy six.

Owned by himself, Glen Andrew, Rebecca Yeoman, Micheal and Lynette Heads, Alistair Sutherland, Gavin Chapman, and Harry Swain, Step It Up A Notch is a half-brother to Texican which won thirteen races for Cran Dalgety and still holds a 3200 metre three year old record at Winton.

At his last start Step It Up A Notch was responsible for setting up Life Of Art’s New Zealand record run of 2-51.5 for the 2400 metre mobile at Wyndham.

“He more or less set it up. It was just whether he bounced back. He could have been under the weather after that but he just showed he’s a tenacious old fella.”

Today was the tenth running of the feature and Bond says it’s important that Southern trainers continue to support the race.

“Supporting the ‘South of the Waitaki’ and keeping it going is the main thing. We give Macca Lodge the rap for putting on this race on a day like this.”

For complete race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink