Trots Centre: Snooze's mare back after rough journey

Another in a long line of talented Chris Svanosio-trained squaregaiters makes a return to the races at Saturday night’s Tabcorp Park Melton meeting.

The exciting Norquay, who sat parked and claimed the scalp of Dance Craze in a heat of the Lyn McPherson Memorial Breed For Speed Gold Series before running second in the Group 1 final during early 2020, is preparing for her first racetrack appearance since September.

Svanosio revealed it had been a bumpy road for the daughter of Majestic Son, who has had just the three runs since that agonisingly close runner-up placing to I Am Pegasus at the elite level just over 12 months ago.

“We gave her a little break after that, then brought her up and she just had a few little things go wrong (so) we ended up giving her another spell,” Svanosio said.

“Things just didn’t go to plan with her, but nothing major.

“We thought a real lot of her, but the next prep nothing worked out.

“There’s no grand plans, we are just hoping we can get her back.”

Since being leased from Yabby Dam Farms owner Pat Driscoll, Norquay has been a revelation for Svanosio and his team, which have won seven races with the five-year-old.

Despite the promising form through late 2019 and 2020, the Romsey trainer-driver isn’t predicting any miracles in the Niota Bloodstock Trot on Saturday night, where he will also have stablemate Anywhere Hugo in the race.

“She’ll need the run, but she’s had a few trials and seems to be trotting fairly good. All of her trials (third at Melton and second at Kilmore) have been pretty steady too, so she’ll probably need a few runs to get back into it,” he said.

Glen Craven will drive Norquay in the NR 70 to 85 event, while Svanosio will partner Anywhere Hugo.

“He (Anywhere Hugo) was okay first-up, so he’d have to improve. If either of them could run in the top four or something I’d be pretty rapt actually,” Svanosio said.

Last start Breed for Speed Gold Final winner Sleepee is among Norquay and Anywhere Hugo’s rivals, as are horses such as Cyclone S Adams (Tony Romeo), C K Spur (Andy Gath) and Imperial Whiz (Danny Mullan).

Svanosio has four other runners on the nine-race card, with Aldebaran Alissa and Fear The Yankee in the DNR Logistics Trot, Aliens Exist in the Alabar 3YO Pace and Vee Rock in the HERO Claiming Pace.

The Melton meeting kicks off at 5.47pm, with the last scheduled to go at 10.07pm.

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