“Six weeks ago I didn’t think she would ever win a race, but she’s got a bit stronger.”
The speaker is Sutton Grange trainer Ross Graham following four-year-old trotting mare Lucy Sawyer’s maiden success at her 15th attempt at Geelong last Thursday.
The Tennotrump mare, who had been placed four times previously, overcame an early mistake to cut down her rivals along the passing lane.
“She’s no world beater but she’s definitely improving,” Graham said.
Lucy Sawyer began her career as a two-year-old as a trotter, then was switched to the diagonal gait before reverting to trotting at the outset of her current campaign.
She was purchased for $4000 at the Australasian Premier Trotting Sale in 2019 by Ross’s mother, Merna Whelan, and her husband, Ken, a well known Central Victorian horseman.
Bred by Neville Pangrazio, of Rochester, Lucy Sawyer is the first foal of Annie’s Last, a successful Armbro Invasion mare from the Maori Miss tribe.
Two graduates of the 2016 APTS sale in Do Ball and The Girls Gotflair also emerged successful at Albion Park and Warragul respectively over the Easter period, while Van Sank, a product of the 2018 sale, posted his 10th lifetime win at Albion Park on Easter Saturday.
Picture courtesy Claire Weston Photography
