Gillies family comes together with northern dreams

By Jordan Gerrans

Melissa Gillies will be listed as the trainer on Saturday evening when enigmatic Queensland trotter Northern Heights takes on megastar Keayang Zahara at Albion Park. 

The 41-year-old Gillies is the face of the operation and her team as they aim to cause an upset of the red-hot favourite in the Group 1 The Great Square. 

But, at Gillies’ Glamorgan Vale property, there is much more to it than just her working her team of horses. 

She is closely aided by her husband Keith as well as their daughters Ella and Zoe. 

The Gillies clan are all up before most of the world wakes, completing their tasks for the stable before scurrying off to school or work. 

“We couldn’t do what we do without everyone chipping in,” Gillies said.

“The girls are very busy themselves, but Zoe gets up and cleans out all the gear and does the horses waters every morning.

“Ella usually drives trackwork, so she is chipping in that way. 

"Keith and I work with the horses before we go off to work ourselves.

“Everyone has an equal part in making sure we get the horses to the races.

“The girls get just as excited as we do when we have a winner. It all shows in the end and adds up.”

The stable understand that they are a longshot to topple Keayang Zahara in the $150,000 showpiece racing for the trotting gate during The Starlights.  

The Great Square is for three and four-year-old horses. 

But, just even to compete in the big Group 1 event is an achievement in itself for the Gillies camp.

Their stable star Northern Heights has battled through a few high-profile blunders earlier in his career. 

The family set a long-term plan earlier this year of competing in The Great Square and they are chuffed to get there. 

“I would say it has been a journey, it has been a long journey with him, but it is really exciting to be in this race,” Gillies said.

“We have had him since he was a yearling, we didn’t break him in, but we have had him ever since.

“He has made some mistakes when it counted, he definitely cost himself the two-year-old Triad race.

“It has been a journey and a learning curve for us. Hopefully as he is getting older, he is getting smarter.

“But, with trotters, you need to patient and just play the long game with him and hope he gets it right.

“He has been the star of the show for us and we have reached a goal to make this race.”

Gillies’ husband Keith has always had a strong opinion of Northern Heights and believed in his talent from his earliest days in their barn.

Keith has a long-term relationship with the trotter’s owner and breeder Kathryn McLachlan which landed Northern Heights in their stable. 

Northern Heights was poised for Group 2 glory in the early stages of his racing career, starting as a $2 shot in the QBRED Trotting 2YO Final of 2023.

Not much went to plan on that occasion as Gillies was forced to settle for second alongside stablemate Gait With Grace, who finished third as a $1.80 chance in the event.

In the Springboard series Final for two-year-old trotters back in 2023 as well, Northern Heights started as a $1.30 hot pot and ended up finishing almost 24 metres behind stablemate Gait With Grace.

While he has made errors at times in feature races, Northern Heights was a dominant winner of the annual Jim McNeil Trotters Championship Final earlier this year. 

The four-year-old finished a strong second last Saturday evening in The Stellar Square at Albion Park, which acted as a prelude into the big Group 1. 

The Stellar Square offered the winner direct entry into this Saturday’s race, which Ajay Volstead from the Darren Weeks barn happily picked up. 

In the end, the Gillies’ didn’t need the direct entry as they landed a spot in the field anyway. 

The trainer was pleased with the run as her trotter – who was driven by Pete McMullen – finished two metres behind Ajay Volstead in an encouraging performance ahead of Saturday’s ‘grand final’.

“Going into it, our main hope was always going to be Northern Heights,” she said.

“We probably couldn’t have been happier with his run.

“He definitely gave it all and lived up to his expectations.

“He found the front pretty easy and Ajay Volstead got a better run than what we would have hoped, he got a nice run through.

“Ajay Volstead had a good last shot at us but Northern Heights gave it his all and he behaved himself, which is all we can ask for.”

The Gillies stable had three runners in The Stellar Square: Northern Heights, Gait With Grace and Tunbridge.

They also have trotter Daimyo in their stable who has won $37,274 in stakes this season.

The trotting gate has become a major part of their stable since they got their first square gaiter just five years ago.

“It has started to become more of a player in our stable,” Gillies said.

“It has snowballed from there and we have just found more and more trotters.”