Trent and Taleah's tremendous sensation

By Jordan Gerrans

Boasting a picket fence line of six victories leading into Saturday’s Queen Of The Creek feature at Albion Park, the team of Taleah McMullen and Trent Lethaby are taking contrasting emotions into the event. 

McMullen will be doing the driving of the in-form mare while her partner Lethaby will be watching on from the sidelines as the trainer. 

That might be why they have very different thoughts leading into the $25,970 race for the mares.

As McMullen will need to be out there in the bike, the 24-year-old says she is not trying to think about the winning sequence too much and adding more pressure to the situation to keep it rolling along. 

For Lethaby, he believes the team should enjoy the winning run while they can, because he understands clearly that it doesn’t roll around every day. 

“Hopefully we can keep going,” Lethaby said.

Regardless of the emotions leading up to Saturday’s race, the McMullen and Lethaby combination have a smart horse on their hands in Tremendous Sensation.

The Kiwi-bred pacer has collected five of her recent wins at Albion Park with the other coming at Redcliffe.

McMullen has been in sulky on every occasion in the half-a-dozen winning spree. 

“She done a super job,” McMullen said.

“She is really easy to have around and we love having her here. It is nice to have her and I try not to worry about the picket fence we have going on with her. It would be nice if we could keep it going.

“The more you get to know these horses, the easier it is when you go out there on the track.

“She has given me a lot of confidence driving her which is really nice.

“She is not one to win by a long way, but she gives me confidence she can get the job done.”

While Tremendous Sensation has been a revelation since lobbing in the Sunshine State, funnily enough, she is yet to race in a mare's event.

She will do so for the first time on Saturday in the Queen Of The Creek, which is a feature event for the ladies during The Starlights. 

Tremendous Sensation will start from the three on the front row on Saturday evening over the mile. 

The partnership of McMullen and Lethaby are deflecting all the praise to Lethaby’s father for picking out the smart mare from New Zealand to eventually land at their Glamorgan Vale operation. 

Finishing second at her first two starts in early September, the daughter of Betting Line has not been beaten since.

Arriving as a two-time winner following victories at Forbury and Addington, her recent success has taken her to eight wins from 24 starts.

“I just noticed she had a bit of gate speed,” Lethaby said of her NZ runs. 

“And, she looked like she could do a bit of work in her runs so I thought the shorter miles might suit her here.

“She came over on a high mark here, so I didn’t expect her to go this well quickly. 

"She has been in tough fields every time here in Queensland but every start she seems to keep stepping up."

The stable and connections had luck with Red Right Hand through 2023 and 2024 before the gelding was eventually sold to the USA.

“Trent’s Dad was looking for a new horse for us and he handled all the purchasing of her and she just rocked up at our place,” McMullen said.

“Trent’s Dad is originally from New Zealand and knows people over there, which helped him picking this horse.

“He might have got a bit lucky with them because they come over here and do a pretty good job for us.”

Tremendous Sensation will need to step up in company on Saturday evening in the feature event for mares, but Lethaby is full of confidence that she can. 

The 28-year-old conditioner pointed to her win three starts back ahead of the talented Fernco Nel as a nod to her class and strong form lines. 

“It took her a couple of starts to get used to the style of racing,” he said.

"But, she has really come on with every start.

“She will need to step up again over the coming weeks, but she has come through every run good. She is our stable star.”

Following the Queen of the Creek, the stable will have the option of heading to the $52,000 Forever Gold seven days later at Albion Park in another feature mares' race.

Tremendous Sensation is the lone racehorse the team of McMullen and Lethaby have in work at the moment as they focus their attention on their next crop of yearlings.

They train out of McMullen’s father John’s training complex.

McMullen said her entire family was still on a high following her older brother Pete driving Gus to a double feature romp in New Zealand earlier this month.