Victorian trainers Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin are the latest to declare their hand for the “mecca” that will be the Queensland Constellations winter carnival.
They join the likes of Luke McCarthy, Jason Grimson, Team Lee and Chris Svanosio plotting major raids on the Queensland riches, headlined by the Inter Dominion series for pacers and trotters, which starts on July 4.
Stewart and Tonkin are poised for their biggest Queensland assault yet with as many as 12 horses chasing a variety of feature races.
Two of them, multiple Group 1 winner Bay Of Biscay of Oliver Dan, will tackle a small but select 1720m free-for-all at Melton on Saturday night.
They also have multiple feature race winners Fox Dan, runner-up in last year’s TAB Eureka, Miki To Success and War Dan Buddy nominated for the Inter Dominion pacing series.
Much interest surrounds Tonkin and Stewart’s lone trotting nomination, Susan Is Her Name.
The six-year-old mare is the only trotter to have beaten champion mare Keayang Zahara in a race, but hasn’t started since that win in the Group 1 Macarthur Mile at Menangle almost 13 months ago.
“She’s ready to go and we’re really happy with her, but we’re in no rush,” Stewart said. “She’ll have a run or two before she goes to Queensland.”
Susan Is Her Name has been plagued by injuries and raced just 17 times for 11 wins, five placings, but still managed three Group 1 wins.
She showed she had come back well with a dazzling Melton trial win over proven feature race trotters Gatesys Gem and Ollivici on April 28.
Other possible stable runners on the Queensland list include NSW Oaks winner Arrhythmia and heat winner Willows Girl for the Queensland Oaks, the likes of Most Exciting, Seaside Boy, Brooklyn Dan and Cardigan Dan for the Queensland Derby and the untapped Cardigan Gem for the $500,000 Group 1 Protostar.
Stewart and Tonkin won last year’s Protostar with Loucasso and identified Cardigan Jem, who is unbeaten in two starts, early for this year’s race.
“He’s our best two-year-old at this stage. He’ll go to the Protostar and we’d love a second runner in the race, too,” Stewart said.
Since he last raced, Cardigan Jem has been to the Melton trials last Tuesday and scorched a 1min55.5sec mile rate for 1720m to win by almost 17m.
Cardigan Jem steps up a notch when he heads to Wagga on Friday for heats of the rich Nutrien Sales series, which culminates with a $200,000 final also at Wagga on Saturday week.
Willows Girl, Cardigan Dan and Brooklyn Dan are others also headed to Wagga for the three-year-old series’.
Bay Of Biscay has all the makings of a Grand Circuit star after a bumper four-year-old season last year netted him wins in the Group 1 Chariots Of Fire and world’s richest pacing race, the TAB Eureka.
His start to 2026 was hindered by a niggling hoof abscess, but Bay Of Biscay’s two runs back at Melton this campaign have been encouraging, including a fourth to stablemate War Dan Buddy after doing the work outside the leader on May 2.
Bay Of Biscay faces a challenge from an outside draw (gate six) on Saturday night with key rival My Ultimate Barney drawn one.
