Winning dreams will be sought and finally savoured at Maryborough when Humbletonian Day brings a race card full of maiden breakthroughs.
Today’s 10-race card is wall-to-wall with $10,000 Harness Breeders Victoria Vicbred maidens, with the first to kick off at 12.10pm amid live, free and extended coverage on Trots Vision at thetrots.com.au.
On-track hosts Rob Auber and Paul Campbell will share all the celebratory moments with race caller Brendan Delaney, as horses, participants, owners and breeders hope their prides of joy will produce winning moments.
And the stories will come thick and fast.
There is plenty of regal breeding lines, including Central Otago in the first, with the two-year-old trotter out of brilliant mare Sumthingaboutmaori ($461,498).
The second on the card, also a two-year-old trot, features a number of Australasian Premier Trotting Sale graduates, including Aldebaran Yahtzee (bought at the sale for $26,000), Aldebaran Gwen ($12,000) and Silent Reverie ($15,000).
Race 3 at 1.52pm is for the three-year-old trotters and includes Self Exclusion, who’s yet to place in 13 starts but is by Orlando Vici out of The Sun Goddess, dam of The Bohemian ($137,784) and Dieu De Lamour ($171,415).
Pocket Of Success, who will contest Race 4 at 1.52pm, has had the most starts in her race, with today’s hit-out being start number 31. The Pocket Fantasy mare has yet to finish in the placings, but is coming off a last start fourth at Kilmore. Can today be the day?
Then it’s over to the pacers from Race 5 at 2.33pm, and it will be off to an eye-catching start with two greys in the first of two three-year-old sprints. Caesarion and Silver Domino will both be hoping to become only the second grey to break through on Humbo Day, following on from Onlyeconomyclass in 2011.
Race 6 includes Surfsup Tigerpie, who carries a familiar name, with his dam Blucolla Tigerpie being a half-sister to 13-time winner Rackemup Tigerpie. They are all the work of owner-breeder Ian Stanley, who trains today’s entrant, who will be steered by son reinsman Michael Stanley at 3.07pm.
The younger Stanley will likely also figure prominently in Race 7 at 3.42pm with his smart Bettors Delight colt Soho Broadway hoping to break his maiden status at start five. Breeding doesn’t come much more regal, with Soho Broadway being out of Rob Watson’s mare Pixel Perfect, making him a half to Soho Tribeca ($1,103,854), Carlas Pixel ($480,128) and Soho Nolita ($238,274). Quite remarkably, all of Soho Broadway’s six older siblings have won more than $100,000, including three-year-old Soho Hamilton.
Race 8 at 4.18pm will be notable for Helen Head’s late dam Penultimate, whose 10th foal Dee Mach will race against Awesome Reactor, who is out of her first foal Twister Jasper. Can the four-year-old mare knock off her five-year-old uncle?
The three-year-old trotters return for race 9 at 4.53pm and again there is some eye-catching regal bloodlines. Hammers Pegasus, who is having his third career start for Jess Tubbs and owner Dom Martello, is by Pegasus Spur out of twice Victorian Trotting Broodmare of the Year winner Sundonna, making him a full brother to Maori Time ($421,301) and a half to Maori Law ($163,464), who won on debut on Humbo Day 2016. Hammers Pegasus was a $60,000 Australian Premier Trotting Sale purchase.
And, finally, the day’s last first-time winner will be crowned in the 10th race at 5.29pm, a two-year-old pace, which features aptly named skewbald Got The Looks for trainer Jason Ainsworth, breeder Leigh Humphries and leassee Amy Clarke.
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