Withdrawals make it easier for Southerners

Major withdrawals in the upcoming Grand Prix harness racing meeting at Addington have made it easier for a number of southerners.

With leading candidates Chase A Dream (Captaintreacherous), Vessem (Vincent) and Cold Chisel (Always B Miki) coming out of the Ace Of Spades Southland, pacer Dreams Are Free (Captaintreacherous) has been elevated to seventh on the leaderboard in the $110,000 Group One feature.

With the withdrawal of Coastal Babe (Downbytheseaside), Kiss (Always B Miki) and Ultimate Racy Girl (Ultimate Machete), the southern fillies Raklou (Sweet Lou) 3, Always Ticking (Always B Miki) 5, Flying Ellie (Art Major) 8, Louies Girl (Lord Forbes) 10, and Raknruin (Sweet Lou) 12 all find themselves eligible to start in the G1 $110,000 Ace Of Diamonds.

Raklou and Always Ticking continued with their preparations for the Addington race at the Winton Workouts on Friday.

Raklou lead and beat Always Ticking by half a length with quality pacer Tact McLeod (Sweet Lou) a nose back in third. The 2400 metre mobile was cut out in 3-03.9 with the last 800 metres run in 55.9.

In the Ace Of Clubs, the Clark Barron trained Bring On The Muscle (Majestic Son) finds himself at the top of the qualifiers after both Head Em Up (Waterloo Sunset) and Paramount Kiwi (Father Patrick) were withdrawn. The Merc (Royal Aspirations) 7, Joeking (Majestic Son) 11 and Imperial Command (Imperial Count) 13 are other southerners in the top thirteen.

Thanks to a strong Oamaru trained contingent, southern trotting fillies hold a strong hand in the Ace Of Hearts with Empire City (Volstead), 3, Princess Sadie (Muscle Mass) 4, Black Pat (What The Hill) 6, Kracka Looka (Father Patrick) 7, Yosemite (Volstead) 8 and Torquay Street (Father Patrick) 9 all in qualifying positions.

Grand Prix day is Sunday 10^th December, and the programme features eight Group One races.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink