Queensland Harness Racing Wrap - September 11

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

THE GOOD

Darrel Graham wound back the clock on Saturday night, claiming a winning double as both a trainer and driver, ending a metropolitan winning drought in the sulky.

Utilising other drivers more regularly than donning the silks himself these days, Graham has won over 2000 races in his driving career and prior to this week, had one winner for the season.

That win came aboard Jilliby Typhoon at Redcliffe back in February, however the Group 1-winning trainer and driver ended the week with a flurry, claiming wins with each of his last three runners.

Harrys Deal is a newcomer to the Graham stable, with the two-year-old making his Australian debut at Albion Park on Thursday.

Allowed plenty of time to balance up early, the gelding was relaxed in the one-by-one trail and Graham was able to drive patiently, making his move with 300 metres to travel.

Closing it out nicely, the gelding ran a closing half in 56.54 seconds to make it a perfect start for his new connections, Boots Properties Racing, managed by Michael Boots.

The next turned out by Darrel Graham was at Saturday’s metropolitan fixture, with another Boots owned runner, Girls Love Pearls, tackling a mare’s qualifying pace.

Floating back early from a wide gate, Miss Daytona set the tempo after leading from the inside gate, the leader started to feel the pinch as the left the back straight.

Weaving a passage, Graham was able to get to the outside and Girls Love Pearls was able to attack the line for a narrow victory over the Narissa McMullen trained pair of Merry Dancer and Arco.

Paying a massive $101 for the win, it gave Graham his first metropolitan driving winner since scoring aboard Montana Chief in March 2021.

His only other runner for the night was in the final event, with Tiz A Sizzler engaged in a pacers handicap event.

A talented gelding that has been besieged by injury in his career, the son of Changeover was facing a 10-metre handicap as he chased the first standing start victory of his career.

With the field strung out over plenty of track soon after the start, Graham had Tiz A Sizzler four back in the single file formation, over 25 metres from the early leader Gleneagle Warrior.

With 1200 metres to travel, Graham eased into the one-wide line and was forced to cart the chasers into the race, slowly moving forward through the next 800 metres.

Moving up strongly, there were a few anxious moments as Tiz A Sizzler put in a goofy step right as he drew equal, but he maintained gait and knuckled down for a stretch duel.

With the superior closing speed, Tiz A Sizzler was too slick over the latter stages, with a 26.9 second closing panel to claim the 16^th victory of his career from just 36 starts.

The win provided Graham with his first metro driving double since June of 2017, while it was his first metro training double since April of 2021.

THE BAD

After changes to the format of the EKKA Show racing programme, unlike previous years where the big money Final was held on the last night of the Show, the Finals were set to be held at Redcliffe in 2023.

Originally slated for Wednesday August 30, a further change was necessitated when just one race was held before the remainder of the meeting was abandoned on the 30^th, when a storm led to an unsafe racing surface.

Finally last Wednesday, the four Show Finals were completed, with capacity fields in each race from the 1780 metres standing start, seeing a total of 48 horses compete.

Mat Wright and Lola Weidemann were able to split the honours, each claiming two Finals on the night, while Nathan Dawson was able to claim two Finals, one each for Wright and Weidemann.

It was Wright that struck first with five-year-old mare Aunty Frances, a pacer owned by his father Gavin and driven to victory by Angus Garrard.

Stepping cleanly, Garrard sent the mare straight to the front and was never headed, claiming victory over the Ricky Gordon-trained My Ultimate Heston, with the Weidemann-trained Cheddar Made Beta holding third.

The second race saw Dawson take the reins aboard the five-year-old mare Delightful Rainbow for Weidemann and from the 10-metre handicap, sent the mare forward to sit outside the leader.

Proving too strong, it was a training quinella for Weidemann who took the drive on her other runner Rocknroll Da Gama which closed strongly for second, with the Dan Russell-trained and Jordan Topping-driven Western Ricki holding third.

With three runners representing her stable in the third Final, Weidemann opted to partner with Hollywood Rooki, the decision proving the winning one, arriving in late to defeat My Ultimate Romeo in the last stride, with Man of Action finishing third for Wright and Dawson.

Bookending the night with a training and owning double, the Gavin Wright-owned, and Mat Wright-trained Subtle Chay confirmed the faith of punters who sent the five-year-old to the post as favourite.

Despite being a little scratchy off the mark, Dawson soon had the gelding into stride, landing a good spot in the running line, before finishing over the top for victory.

The win also gave Dawson five winners for the night, continuing his record-breaking season with the fourth quintet of winners for the season.

THE MILESTONE

It might be a case of what might have been for connections of Frankie Ferocious after missing all the big three-year-old events through the Constellations Carnival and the QBRED Triad Final.

Lining up on Friday night at Albion Park, the talented gelding displayed his raw speed and talent when he produced a savage performance over the 1660 metre journey.

Making full use of the inside barrier, Nathan Dawson ran the field through an opening split of 26.9 seconds and had the gelding settled and rolling along to put the second quarter behind them in 29.3 seconds for an opening half of 56.2 seconds.

Maintaining the rage down the back stretch, the third panel came up in a sizzling 27.1 seconds and the Ben Crosby-trained gelding was looking comfortable and full of running, pulling clear of the chasing pack between turns.

Caller Chris Barsby summed it up as they swung for home commenting “he means business tonight” as Dawson let the gelding slide down the home straight with a closing split of 27.7 seconds. 

With a winning margin of 15.8 metres, the 1.51.0 mile rate established a new Albion Park class record for three-year-old pacers over the mobile 1660 metre trip.

The time shaved 0.1 seconds off the previous jointly held record, which was owned by One Change and Crunch Time, with that pair setting the 1.51.1 mile within one month of each other back in 2020.

Frankie Ferocious is the full brother to the Group 1 Triad-winner Captain Shuffles who was able to post a 1.51.6 mile as a three-year-old two starts prior to his Triad victory.

While Frankie Ferocious does not have the feature win of his big brother, he is still only lightly raced with six wins from 12 starts with Dawson in the seat for five of those victories.

THE WILDCARD

Kilcoy hosted their third meeting of the season on Sunday with an eight-race card decided on the grass track.

Training honours were taken by Dan Russell who prepared a winning double, with six individual trainers claiming the other races on the day.

Both winners for Russell were driven by Jordan Topping who shared driving honours on the day with Leonard Cain and Adam Richardson with all three picking up a winning double.

For Russell and Topping, Sunday’s double was the second time this season the pair have combined for a winning double on the grass, achieving the feat at Kilcoy’s April meeting.

On both occasions, the double has been achieved with the same two horses - Bustaballon and Getaloadathisgirl - with the Russell-trained pair the only horses to have won two races at Kilcoy in 2023.

Veteran Bustaballon won the opening race on the card, proving too tough for his opposition, sitting outside the leader throughout and pulling clear late to claim a five-metre margin.

Owned by Darren Ebert, it was the third career victory for the Cammibest gelding which only started his racing career as a seven-year-old.

Starting as the favourite in the sixth race of the day, Getaloadathisgirl was having just her second start at Kilcoy, with Topping able to slot into the one-by-one trail soon after the start.

Making a three-wide move with 600 metres to travel, Getaloadathisgirl moved up strongly and turning for home at hit the front.

It was an armchair drive for Topping thereafter, easing down to the wire to claim an easy victory, moving her tally to 24 wins for the season.

With still more than three months of the season remaining, Topping is just four wins shy of her season high benchmark of 28 wins achieved last season, as she currently sits in sixth position on the concession driver’s premiership.

THIS WEEK

A quieter week ahead in Queensland with five meetings scheduled in the next seven days.

Albion Park will host three of those with Redcliffe back after its recent resurfacing with Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon fixtures.

Tuesday afternoon will see nine races from 'The Creek', Friday will again be a night fixture before the week concludes with the Saturday night metropolitan fixture.

Saturday night will see the running of the Sky Racing Pink Ribbon Raceweek Trophy, with drivers supporting the cause to wear pink pants at the meeting.

There will also be a fund-raising event taking place on course being hosted by the Embracing Pacing team in the winning post marquee.