Catch up on the week’s harness racing action in our weekly review, thanks to Darren Clayton.
THE GOOD
The training partnership Joe and Mary Rando from New South Wales had a whirlwind finish to the 2021 season, preparing Timothy Red to claim a pair of heat victories in the Trotters Interdominion.
Seemingly arriving from obscurity to progress to the Final, the four-year-old was not disgraced in finishing in seventh in the Group 1 Final at just his 18th career start.
While season 2021 finished on a high for the pair, the first four months of 2022 have yet to hit any great heights for their training partnership, however Mary Rando is on the board with recent success as an owner for the current term.
The Queensland Jim McNeil Series looked an option for a pair of square gaiters from the Rando team, leading to both Do Ball and Sobomba being sent north to the stables of Narissa McMullen.
In the first round of heats, Do Ball finished in good order in the closing stages to grab fourth behind Regal Appointment, while Sobomba made an error in his heat to finish near the tail.
Second-round heats were held under terrible conditions in what would ultimately prove to be the last day of racing at Albion Park for more than one month owing to the Brisbane floods.
Do Ball would again grab fourth in his heat, Sobomba catching the eye when charging home from deep in the pack for second behind Mikemaro.
With McMullen keeping the square gaiters following a similar path, both had a March start at Redcliffe before a trial at Albion Park on April 1 before starting in the Group 3 McNeil Final.
Facing 10-metre handicaps through the Series, Do Ball finished in sixth and Sobomba eighth in the Final, settling back in the pack as Regal Appointment controlled the race from the front.
With two trotting races held at Albion Park last Tuesday, both were able to find separate races, with Matt Elkins maintaining his association with Sobomba and Narissa McMullen taking the reins aboard Do Ball.
With the pair engaged in successive races - within the space of 40 minutes - both trotters claimed victory, and both ended an extended winless period that dated to June 2021 for Sobomba and May 2021 for Do Ball.
Sobomba stepped cleanly under the standing start conditions and Elkins soon had the gelding in front and controlling the speed.
With an even tempo in front, the pair were never in danger, claiming a six-metre victory.
Do Ball was facing the mobile 1660-metre start and soon after the field was released was leading the outside line, before receiving cover for the final lap.
Angled three-wide with 350 metres to travel, Do Ball accelerated to the front, pulling clear to claim an effortless victory by close to 11 metres.
Do Ball is owned by Mary Rando, who also owns Sobomba in partnership with David Latimer.
The win made even sweeter with both horses claiming the $2,000 bonus paid by Racing Queensland for trotters claiming their first win in Queensland when trained by a Queensland-based trainer.
THE BAD
The anticipated return of the 2021 Queensland 2YO Pacer of the Year Cat King Cole did not go as planned, with the now three-year-old stepping out at Albion Park on Friday night.
Angus Garrard had secured the drive on the filly after her regular driver from last season, Kylie Rasmussen, has hung up the race day silks.
Starting deep into the red as the lone second line runner, the star filly looked to be in a bit of a mood and required the clerk in the score up.
As the field began to fill their positions behind the start car, Cat King Cole was hesitant to pace and was soon in a full stretch gallop, out of position by over 50 metres as the field was released.
With the race a prelude for the upcoming Australian Pacing Gold 3YO Gold Bullion Series, finishing the race and avoiding a race embargo looked the best result.
Filling her gear and regathering to set out after the field, Garrard was able to get Cat King Cole pacing and chasing.
Catching the pack by the 1200-metre pole, the filly positioned at the rear of the field as her stablemate, Delightful Lou, set the tempo in front.
Trying to make some ground over the closing stages, Cat King Cole was brave in defeat finishing fourth, 17 metres in arrears of the all-the-way winner Delightful Lou.
Dodging a trial bar, Cat King Cole was stung with an outside draw embargo and will line up in Saturday night’s Final, likely from barrier seven if the field is under capacity.
It may not have been the most ideal return to the track, but Cat King Cole will get the opportunity for redemption with a much bigger pay day on offer in the $50,000 Final.
THE MILESTONE
Sportswriter has been a well-performed stallion for many years in Australia, highlighted by the statistics of his progeny that show 454 individual Australian-bred winners from 601 starters.
Amongst those winners are the Queensland trained Group 1 winner Pinup Boy, along with other Group 1 winners, Our Uncle Sam, Niki No No, Manning, Lumineer and Shezallapples.
Last week at Redcliffe, nine-year-old gelding Gasmonkey, one of those 454 Australian-bred winners became the fifth of Sportswriter’s Australian bred progeny to chalk up 200 race starts.
Despite reaching the 200-start milestone, a wining result was unable to be achieved, with Gasmonkey working hard in the run and fading in the closing stages to finish at the tail of the field.
A great campaigner for trainer Mark Dux and connections over the years, little Gasmonkey always tries hard and after his most recent performance, his record shows 27 wins and a further 43 placings from those 200 starts.
The horse, with arguably one of the best names to display in emoji form, has earned his connections over $170,000 in stakes throughout his career.
Gasmonkey started the 2022 season in fine style, winning three of his first four appearances - his most recent victory being the third of those when scoring back on January 26.
Hoofnote
Just seven days earlier, Writeaboutchelsea became the fourth progeny of Sportswriter to join the 200 club.
THE WILDCARD
Zac Chappenden made a rare appearance in the bike for his parents last week and was able to repay the favour with a pair of wins.
The wins were also recorded with the same horse, Mister Hart scoring twice in the space of three days winning at Redcliffe on Thursday before backing it up with another victory on Sunday, again at The Triangle.
Mister Hart is trained by Melissa Kendall who also part-owns the eight-year-old with Phil Chappenden, with the pacer’s second win of the week taking his career record to 21 victories.
Purchasing Mister Hart from the stables of Darrel Graham back in 2019, the win on Thursday was also the 100th race start since being trained by Kendall.
After facing the wrath of the stewards for a careless driving charge aboard Mister Hart on April 12 at Albion Park, Phil Chappenden was given a suspension to pave the opening for Zac to be handed the reins.
In Thursday’s contest, Zac sent the Major In Art gelding straight to the front from barrier one and was able to steady the pace with an opening half of 62 seconds.
Increasing the tempo through a 28.9 third quarter, Mister Hart had plenty left in reserve to keep his rivals chasing with a 28.7 final split to score by just under three metres.