A reminder about the depth in Victoria’s pacing and trotting ranks was brought to the fore at Shepparton tonight, with a young local pacer showing top tier talent and a trotting mare reminding of her bona fides.
Red Hot Tooth, for trainer Kari Males and reinswoman Kerryn Manning, has a trophy shelf the envy of all but a few and justified the significant punting support she received tonight with a gutsy victory from the breeze, holding off the challenge of favourite Wobelee.
The Your Sold Real Estate Trot was a third win in four starts for Red Hot Tooth and was produced one race before Reactor Now overcame poor manners to win the Neatline Homes Pace, saluting in a 1:52.8 mile rate that was only 0.3 seconds outside Ideal Star’s track record.
Reinsman Josh Aiken was initially crossed by Louis Sedgwick before retaking the lead amid a brisk 27.3-second first quarter, grabbing a slight reprieve before a 55.4-second last half was enough to hold My Kiwi Mate at bay.
It was a pleasing result for Aiken but one that came with a cautionary tale, with Reactor Now a handful throughout.
“He’s a bit of a funny horse. He can get on one rein and he can pull,” Aiken told Trots Vision. “I was holding him as slow as I could through the middle stages. Going forward that’s not good enough.
“If he’s going to be competitive against the elite he needs to learn to relax and go as fast as I want him to go or as slow as I want him to go.
“We know we have an amazing horse on our hands. Probably ability wise right up there with the (best) horses I’ve driven, but we are going to have to sort his mannerisms out if he’s going to compete at that high level.”
Excluding his retirement three starts back, tonight’s result makes it nine wins on the trot for Reactor Now but Aiken was cautious when plotting the path ahead, with both a showdown against Ride High at Terang next Saturday and a tilt at the October 10 Pryde’s EasiFeed Victoria Cup potentially on the backburner.
“Bit too early to tell, we will have to see how he pulls up,” he said. “My gut feeling is he might have a break through spring, he’s not Breeders Crown eligible. My gut feeling is we’ll try and get him ready for the Vicbred in December and the country cups come January/February.”
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Meanwhile, Manning couldn’t have been more rapt with Red Hot Tooth during her post-race Trots Vision interview, with the Group 1 winner showing her versatility and strength with a bruising victory.
“Her first up run was really good,” Manning said. “She struggles with the high speed a little bit of late, but once she winds up she gets a head of steam up the straight and she always finishes really well.
“Tonight we probably weren’t planning to be in the death but just wanted to be in front of the other two (Wobelee and Big Jack Hammer) and maybe outstay them. They all but headed her, but she just fights on, she’s very brave.”
Red Hot Tooth was next to leader Sundons Courage for much of the middle-distance trot, but there was initially little pressure as Brad Angove carved out 32.4 and 31.1 first and second quarters on the leader.
“He’s a bit of a free-running horse, but he managed to get a pretty slow quarter. I was happy just to sit there and let him do that, and get them rolling down the back from the 600 so (Wobelee and Big Jack Hammer) had to sprint longer,” Manning said.
“They usually can ping 400 the other two very quickly and I thought we may be able to take the sting out of them if she can run a 600. It only just worked, but she got the job done.”
Otherwise the spoils were shared around on the night, with no trainer or driver producing a double.
Sofala impressed in the Barastoc Pace at odds in the first for Donna Castles with his first win since April, before Explicit Castle led all-the-way for Andy and Kate Gath in the Alabar Pace.
Anthony Crossland’s Rules Dont Apply crashed the line to mow down Powderkeg by a short half-head in the Guardline Security Services 3YO Trot, before Red Hot Tooth beat Wobelee and Robbie Royale by a head to win the open-class trot.
Reactor Now justified his favourtism in the first of the quaddie legs before Sonny Weaver (Neatline Homes Pace) and Emerald Stride (Saddleworld Shepparton Trot) won via the sprint lane for Amanda Turnbull and David Miles respectively.
Goodtime Heaven continued on her impressive campaign in the Central Tyres Service Pace for mares, winning by five metres after emerging from the running line for Courtney Slater and Michael Stanley, and then Lochinvar Chief book-ended the Hunter Rural 2YO Pace with a 26.7-second first quarter and 28.6-second final quarter to salute for David Moran ahead of favourite Idyllic.
