Queensland harness racing wrap - May 24

Catch up on the week’s harness racing action in our weekly review, thanks to Darren Clayton.

THE GOOD

Pete McMullen was unstoppable over the weekend, draining winners from all over the track to solidify his position atop both state and national leaderboards.

‘Leader Peter’ broke new ground on Thursday at Redcliffe, when scoring a maiden-breaking win with Misstrepo in the opening event on the card.

The win was McMullen’s 100^th driving success for the season and the talented reinsman became the first driver in Australia to hit triple figures this season.

A lean day at Albion Park on Friday was soon cast aside when McMullen again was able to secure a new personal record at Saturday night’s metropolitan fixture.

Steering home five winners on the 11-race card, it was the first time that Pete has scored a quintet of victories at the one meeting.

The last time a driver had been successful with five wins at a single meeting was in January 2017 when Trista Dixon secured the feat.

The first of the McMullen five came courtesy of the evergreen Maywyns Best for trainer Graham Dwyer.

Benefiting from the scratching of Turn It Up, the 11-year-old was never in danger once in front when cruising home to an easy victory in a 1.52.1 mile-rate.

Coming back to earth with a thud at his next drive aboard Mister Diamond who finished at the tail of the field, it was the only blemish, as McMullen won aboard each of his next four drives.

Wins came aboard Lombo Heaven leading all the way, Betterthandiamonds who led throughout, Looking Fabulous who was game in a tough victory and a stylish win from a 50-metre handicap aboard the trotter Majestic Simon.

Three of the winners were trained by Pete’s wife Chantal Turpin, with the other provided by Craig McKinnis.

Not content to put the cue in the rack with five metropolitan winners, McMullen then backed it up with a treble at Marburg on Sunday with wins aboard Adrenaline Rush, Shesfeelinprecious and Royal Princess.

Overall, Pete drove 14 winners for the week with trebles at Redcliffe on Wednesday and Marburg Sunday, a double at The Creek on Tuesday to match his big Saturday night quintet and a lone victory at Thursday’s Redcliffe fixture.

The big weekend of winners has seen McMullen blaze his way to a huge 33-win lead in the Queensland Premiership with 108 victories, while his nearest rival Nathan Dawson sits on 75.

THE BAD

With QBRED rankings paving the path to the Triads and the consolation, time proved the ultimate nemesis for Murray Thomas and his three-year-old Onlysbest in the three-year-old division.

Always showing natural speed and ability, Onlysbest was the winner of the first two-year-old race of the season in 2020 and would go on to win four races in his first year of racing.

Winning a race at Redcliffe second-up in March, he was not seen on the track again until May 7 in a last ditch bid to raise his QBRED ranking, however luck was not on his side as he went to the line searching for a way clear.

With the big night of QBRED action on Saturday May 15, Onlysbest was forced to watch from his box at home.

However, stepping out at Albion Park on Tuesday May 18, the Cammibest colt went some way to easing the disappointment of missing the big dance.

Sent straight to the front, it was the man of the week - Leader Peter - who controlled the speed and the pair led throughout in scoring an easy victory.

The win provided connections with the QBRED second win bonus on top of the prizemoney and the 1.56.6 mile-rate was a new personal best winning time for Onlysbest.

A winner at 50% of his appearances, with six wins in 12 starts, Onlysbest should only improve with more racing as the season progresses.

THE MILESTONE

Trainer Shawn Grimsey has been rewarded for his patience with the win of Majestic Speed at Albion Park on Friday, May 22.

The five-year-old mare arrived with Grimsey February in as a 42-start maiden, having had stints with four different trainers in three states.

The $2,000 bonus for trotters scoring their first win in Queensland is a nice sweetener on top of the advertised prizemoney and Grimsey was able to enjoy the fruits of patience, as he also leases the mare from her owner.

Starting from the front tape in the 2138-metre event, driver Shane Graham was content to sit outside the leader where they proved too strong when pulling clear to claim victory by 11 metres.

The maiden-breaking win for Majestic Speed came at career start number 54 and while Grimsey tends to concentrate more on pacers, he has had previous success with the square gait.

In Bar Go was a pacing-bred trotter that won a heat of the DJA for Grimsey, unfortunately he would go on to make a costly error in the Final of that series.

Majestic Speed like the names suggests is a daughter of the super trotting sire Majestic Son and with a loose rating and the confidence of that first win, could soon be back in the winner’s enclosure.

THE WILDCARD

Adam Crocker remains undefeated in Queensland following three race starts, and the latest victory could prove just as lucrative as his second victory.

Arriving with the Chantal Turpin stable, the four-year-old made his first race appearance in an Australian Pacing Gold heat where he was clinical in leading throughout.

Second-up into the $50,000 Group 2 Final of that series, he was sent straight to the front and was never in danger in claiming the race and lowering his career PB to 1.54.0.

With blistering speed from the mobile, he was given a chance in the popular Redcliffe Trot Rods heats and was ideally placed in the ninth heat of the series when landing in gate one.

With Pete McMullen out to set a time, he fired Adam Crocker off the arm and with the power on ran a blistering opening quarter in 26.6 seconds.

Urging the gelding all the way, Adam Crocker ran the closing 400-metre split in 28.2 seconds to stop the clock in an overall time of 63.8 seconds.

That time was enough to take the lead in the 2021 Series and is a mark that will prove tough to beat, with the $10,000 top time and the two-horse Otto Tuza angled float currently in the grasp of the connections of Adam Crocker.

With ten heats left on Wednesday night, all eyes will be on the clock.

THIS WEEK

The schedule looks different in Queensland this week, with no racing to be held on Thursday.

Whilst there may be a free day in the latter part of the week, there is action aplenty with six race meetings over the next seven days.

Redcliffe and Albion Park split the action with each venue hosting three meetings - Redcliffe on Monday, Wednesday and Sunday and The Creek the usual Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday.

All the action leads to Redcliffe on Wednesday night for the Trot Rods series finale feature meeting.

After 10 heats were held over the past five weeks, the series concludes with ten races all over the flying 947-metre start to be held this coming Wednesday.

Saturday night at Albion Park, the highlight will be the $50,000 Australian Pacing Gold three-year-old mixed sex consolation to be staged at Group 2 level.

The week starts and ends at Redcliffe with a Sunday night programme from The Triangle where every race will again offer the lucrative QBRED cash bonus on top of regular stake money.