Matthew Craven’s training heroics were lauded at Tabcorp Park Melton on Friday night when Fides was produced for a breathtaking victory more than 950 days after he last stepped onto a racetrack.
The forgotten speed machine quickly reminded us all of his blistering turn of foot with a last-to-first win in the Benstud Standardbreds Pace.
Given a soft run at the back of the field through the early stages of the race, Fides then unleashed an electric finishing burst in the sprint to the line to prevail running away by over 4m.
The six-year-old clocked personal closing quarters of 27.52 and 26.16 for a mile rate of 1:51.6 over the 1720m trip.
Craven said Fides’ time away from the track started with some significant muscle tears and that a suspensory issue had also raised its head since his last appearance at the races back in April of 2020.
“He’s been a long time off the scene, so to produce him tonight… he was still probably fatter than me. I wasn’t looking to do too much with him, and I just took him back to the pegs and let him float around,” a thrilled Craven told TrotsVision after the victory.
“The great part is that he’s still got his desire to race and to really hit the line, so it’s very exciting.
“Credit to all the owners that have been so patient and just let me put him first. It’s just nice to repay them all for their faith.”
Fides’ performance takes his career record to 10 wins from 27 starts, with prizemoney earnings now just a tick under $80,000.
The Emma Stewart-trained Idyllic is another horse to have battled serious injury problems in recent times and he too was in the winner's circle on Friday night.
The Group 1-winning youngster made it two wins from three starts since his return to the track with a strong performance in the Alabar Breeders Crown Graduate Cup.
Idyllic suffered a fractured left hind pastern last year and was forced to undergo surgery and a long road to recovery before returning to the races in mid-October.
>> READ MORE: Idyllic's long-awaited win a special one for connections