Queensland Harness Racing Wrap - February 27

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

THE GOOD

A chance meeting at the 2021 Queensland Harness Awards night was the catalyst for a drought breaking win in the sulky for Doug Lee last Tuesday at Redcliffe.

Joining the Albion Park sponsorship stable through his business Wolf Signs, Andrew Crisan was a guest at the 2021 awards night where he was introduced to Doug and Joedy Lee.

“We got chatting and I expressed my interest to Doug that I would be keen to get involved,” Crisan said.

Lee then went about trying to acquire the right horse and having had great success with the square gaiters over the years, felt he had found the right one.

“Doug thought he had one with Everysecondcounts and we thought we had it, but Taleah McMullen got the offer in ahead of us," he said. 

“So after nearly six months of looking we were able to get hold of Hammer Son and he was on his way and I had my first horse."

Finishing down the line at his first two starts in Queensland, Hammer Son was given a short spell by Lee as he began the tinkering process to work out the idiosyncrasies of the gelding.

Some changes in shoeing and recognising that the horse trotted cleanly at home, led Lee to be the regular race day driver for the gelding.

Starting to trot cleanly and race consistently, a win was getting closer after a string of placings to start the season and last week off the 40 metre handicap, Hammer Son started a $13 chance at Redcliffe.

Making his move at the right time, Lee had the gelding travelling sweetly and turning for home had pulled clear of the pack, racing on to claim victory by over 14 metres.

Although scaling back on his driving commitments in recent years, the last time Lee had tasted success in the bike was in August 2019 with a ‘pick up’ drive for trainer Ken Belford aboard Non Passare.

“Doug was waving to us down the straight and had the whip in the air celebrating, I should have told him to put his head down,” Crisan chuckled, with the 2.00.6 mile rate recorded by Hammer Son just 0.1 outside the track record owned by Jeter.

Ironically in a sliding doors moment, Everysecondcounts was also in the field and finished in last place after making an error in the run.

“We were all yelling and cheering, it was as great feeling,” the excited owner said.

Hammer Son is owned by three couples with the husband and wife trio of Lees, Crisans and Thomas’ all coming together to share in the ownership of the five-year-old.

“I’m just blown away by how friendly everyone in the industry is, it is nothing like I have ever experienced in anything I have done previously," he said. 

“We went and had lunch with Doug and Joedy on the weekend and they showed us around their property, we watched him work some trotters, it’s amazing."

Having never had any involvement in the sport before, Crisan has now been bitten by the harness racing bug.

“I’m looking at more ways to get more involved, whether I look at getting into some training at the Redcliffe Showgrounds, I just love it," he said. 

Hammer Son will likely be aimed at the upcoming Jim McNeil series now, a series that Lee has won on two previous occasions, with Scorched in 2019 and Justabitnoisy in 2016.

THE BAD

Queensland’s loss has proven to be Victoria’s gain with young couple Zac Chappenden and Amy Cargill relocating to join the all-conquering Emma Stewart stable.

Making the move three weeks ago, the pair produced their first runner, Hit The Track, at Ballarat on Thursday and made an immediate impact with the seven-year-old gelding.

Settled back in the pack, Chappenden came with a well-timed sprint to claim victory, with the race one of two heats, with the Final to be held this coming Thursday at Ballarat, where Hit The Track has been dealt a tough blow, drawing gate 13 in the 2200 metre event.

With the opportunity to work with some richly talented horse flesh, it did not take long for Zac to be given the chance aboard one of the Stewart stables top performers, with the young reinsman entrusted aboard Like A Wildfire in Sunday’s Horsham Cup.

Since finishing unplaced in the 2022 Blacks A Fake, Like A Wildfire has been a regular on the Victorian Country Cup circuit and was even given a shot in both the Hobart and Launceston Cups.

Finishing unplaced in each of the Cup races he has contested, the gelding broke through in the Horsham Cup, driven inch perfect by Chappenden at just his second Victorian appearance and first for his new ‘boss’.

Settled at the rear as the odds-on favourite Major Moth set the tempo, Chappenden produced Like A Wildfire at the top of the home stretch and the eight-year-old charged hard arriving in the last stride to defeat Cant Top This.

The win was Chappenden’s first Group victory and should provide plenty of future opportunities with the instant success.

THE WILDCARD

Queensland based trainers and owners were again active south of the border over the weekend.

The omission of Blacksadance from the Miracle Mile qualifying sprints on Saturday night at Menangle was the biggest shock of the Queensland raid on the New South Wales Carnival of Miracles.

While the Albion Park track record holder had not done enough in the eyes of the NSW handicapping panel to contest a qualifying sprint, Queensland still had heavy representation on the night in the support races.

For the fourth successive start Sumomentsomewhere was able to finish in the money for trainer Shannon Price, grabbing a close second in the opening race of the night.

The Price stable had three runners on the night with a two-pronged attack on the NSW Derby heats courtesy of Sure Thing Captain and Hold On To Ya Bling.

Both pacers were able to finish in fourth placing in their respective heats and on times, Sure Thing Captain has progressed through to the Final, with Hold On To Ya Bling qualifying as an emergency.

Grant Dixon had a runner in each of the three Derby heats, with Free Thinker making the Final with a third placing from heat two after attempting to lead throughout.

Aroda and Bold Medley Jujon were well beaten in their heats, while the Tim Butt-trained Borella finished in sixth placing to also miss out on this Saturday’s Final.

The biggest result of the night came for Queensland based owners, the La Spina family, claiming the Group 3 Pink Bonnet with their two-year-old filly Lux Aeterna.

Trained and driven by Rickie Alchin, Lux Aeterna is a regally bred filly by boom sire Captaintreacherous out of The Arch Nemesis, making her a full sister to La Spina’s former smart performer Captain Crusader, runner-up in the 2021 Queensland Derby.

Richard and Dayl March took a team to the New England region of New South Wales on Sunday, highlighted with a three-prong attack on the Armidale Cup.

Unfortunately there was no Cup joy for the March team, with Our Major Day, a winner of the 2019 Cup, competing in the race for the fourth time.

However, they did not leave Armidale empty handed, claiming a support race with Arnold Street.

THE MILESTONE

Claiming her second win of the season at Marburg on Thursday, Kelli Dawson reached a driving milestone, reaching 500 wins.

The win came aboard Shereacts, a mare trained by her father Geoff, with the victory the sixth time the pair have combined for success, with three of those at Marburg.

Having had fewer drives in the past two seasons, Thursday’s win was win number two for the season from just 18 drives.

Having driven in several Group 1 feature races, Kelli’s pinnacle moment came in the 2020 Redcliffe Sales Final when successful aboard Manila Playboy.

Kelli’s first Group success came in the 2012 Be Good Johnny Sprint, a Group 3 contest when she partnered with the King of the Creek, Destreos.

Forming an incredible bond with ‘Dexter’, the pair combined for 57 victories, with Kelli driving the record breaking pacer in 253 of his 486 starts, combining for their first win together on February 13, 2010 at Albion Park.

With Destreos moving to Tasmania with trainer Ken Rattray, the last time Kelli took the reins behind the veteran was in March 2018.

Flying to the Apple Isle for one last dance with Destreos, they finished unplaced in the Governors Cup.

THIS WEEK

The week started with a green theme, a six race card on the grass at Kilcoy to kick off seven days of harness action in Queensland.

Works on the new judge and callers tower at Albion Park is set to be completed with racing to resume at The Creek on Friday for a day meeting.

Redcliffe will host three meetings for the week, Tuesday through Thursday inclusive, having covered the bulk of the relocated meetings in the past fortnight.

Metropolitan racing will return to Albion Park on Saturday night, before the seven days is rounded out with a Sunday afternoon fixture from Marburg.

Interstate, Queensland will be represented by the Shannon Price-trained Sure Thing Captain and the Grant Dixon-trained Free Thinker in the New South Wales Derby, with Dixon looking to go back-to-back in the Blue Riband feature following the win of Leap To Fame in 2022.