Jilliby Ballerini broke through for a deserved Group 1 success when she outclassed her rivals in the Aldebaran Park Sumthingaboutmaori Trot on Saturday night.
Sent out the $1.45 favorite, Jilliby Ballerini was taken to the lead by Glen Craven shortly after the start and had her rivals off the bit as she bounded away in the home straight.
Craven allowed himself a flourish of the whip as Jilliby Ballerini crossed the line with seven metres to spare from stablemate Jilliby Dreamlover in a mile rate of 1:57.6.
The daughter of Majestic Son had previously been placed in five Group 1 races in her 36-start career.
“She’s probably the best unluckiest horse ever to strike (Keayang) Zahara so many times. She just butters up every week and it’s a credit to Marg, Paddy and everyone at home,” Craven said.
“She races in every fight, she went to New Zealand and has come back and still shows up. It’s a great credit to them.”
In February, she took out the $75,000 Kilmore Trotters Cup.
“The Kilmore Cup was Group 1 money but didn’t have Group 1 status – it’s such a relief as she deserves a Group 1,” he said.
“She settled okay, but when Tracy (The Jet) came around, she wanted to get racing. But she likes to bowl along and she is used to chasing Zahara, so she can run a good, solid mile.”
The winner is likely to again lock horns with Keayang Zahara in next week’s Group 1 Macarthur Mile at Menangle.
“She’ll go up to Sydney next week to race back over a mile and hopefully she can get a decent draw and do the same thing,” he said.
Earlier in the night, Heza Gun ($8) spoiled the party when he defeated the Jess Tubbs-trained Howdy Mate in the Greg Sugars Always In Our Hearts Trot.
The winner was driven by Chris Lang, who has enjoyed a long association with the Sugars family.
“My relationship with the Sugars family in general goes back to the last century when Greg was almost still in nappies,” Lang said.
“When we used to take horses to Adelaide, we’d stay with Ross (Sugars) and we would send horses over for Ross to train.”
Lang acknowledged he denied the race a fairytale finale.
“It would have been nice to see Jess’ horse win, but that’s racing,” he said.
“Greg drove a lot for me and we had huge respect for him like everyone in the industry did. It was a very sad day when we lost him.”
