By Alex Nolan
She might not have reached champion status on the track just yet, but Long Legs Lou has become a champion for those doing it tough off it.
The filly is part owned by ‘The Footy Show’ star Erin Molan and harness racing benefactors Kevin and Kay Seymour, with all prize money collected by the three-year-old filly donated to Bowel Cancer Australia.
In 10 starts, the filly has raised more than $5500 for the charity. Long Legs Lou is named after Molan’s sister, Sarah Sutton, who faced her own battle with bowel cancer.
The filly will line up for start number 11 in the Garrards Here On Track 3YO Pace from gate three at Albion Park on Friday (1.17pm) with trainer Grant Dixon in the sulky.
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Team Teal sets the bar high in first week of campaign
A Narissa McMullen double at Redcliffe on Tuesday has brought the total funds raised for the 2018 Team Teal Campaign to $1000 in less than a week.
Twenty-two of Queensland's female drivers will wear teal coloured pants during Ovarian Cancer Awareness month, with every winning drive earning the Women's Cancer Fund (WCF) a $200 donation from Racing Queensland, Albion Park HRC, Redcliffe HRC and UBET.
The donations will help WCF raise money for the Australia New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group between February 1 and March 11.
Isobel Ross got the campaign off to a flier at Redcliffe last week, driving a winning double, before backing up with another win at Albion Park on Saturday.
McMullen said it was great to get one winner on the board so early in the campaign, let alone two.
"The campaign helps raise money for an important cause, while helping to showcase our sport to a wider audience. It also shows just how generous people in the racing industry truly are," McMullen said.
Isobel Ross and Ipanema Beach kick-start the 2018 Team Teal Campaign in Style at Redcliffe last Thursday. PHOTO: Michael McInally
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Sallis' impressive run continues
In a career spanning 36 years, more than 3200 starters and 411 winners, there was one thing trainer Ron Sallis hadn’t been able to do … until Tuesday.
New stable acquisition Maybetothemax was Sallis’ first starter in a trotting race, and his first winner.
Formerly prepared by the Graham Lyon stable in Victoria, the Yankee Paco gelding then joined the powerful McCarthy yard in Sydney, which used to race his mother (Maybe Hall) in Queensland.
And the McCarthy polish continued to shine in the seven-year-old’s first Queensland start, when Maybetothemax shot to the lead in the back straight and was never headed, holding off Quietly Spoken by 5.8m.
It continued an impressive run over the past week for Sallis, who also prepared Saturday’s King of the Claimers winner, Our Mels Dream NZ at Albion Park.
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Double delight as March continues comeback
Richard March continued his stunning comeback to training at Albion Park on Tuesday, picking up a winning double and the biggest race win of his career.
His first winner on Tuesday came when 2017 QBRED Triad winner Clintal Do ($8.70) saluted in the Lunchbox Lodge Spelling Farm Pace (C3 to C4).
In winning, Clintal Do became the latest Queensland pacer to benefit from the QBRED Cash Scheme, introduced in line with annualized prize money increases of $900,000 for the harness code.
The Vic Frost-trained Fire And Ice also collected a QBRED Cash Bonus after taking the Hurrikane Kingcole @ Egmont Park Stud Pace in Race 1.
March’s double was complete when Our Major Day ($13.60) held off favourites, Somewhereovarainbow and Red Charmer to claim the Kevin and Kay Seymour Pot of Gold C0 Final – his biggest race success to-date.
The double follows March’s winning treble at the Warwick meeting on December 9, when he saluted with Clintal Do, Ultimate Ad and Our Major Day.
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Mare ruled out of Sydney feature
The Shannon Price-trained mare Bettorthanspecial has been scratched from Friday night’s Group 3 Cordina Family Sibella Stakes at Tabcorp Park, Menangle.
The twice Group 1-placed mare was in search of her first win after claiming the Forever Gold Mares at Albion Park in December.
The now seven-year-old mare has collected more than $340,000 in prize money across 27 career wins for Price’s Raboki Pty Ltd.
