While Chris Alford’s historic 8000th win is celebrated throughout the harness racing world, it also provided a particularly proud moment for a trainer who has been there from the start of his remarkable career.
Trainer Jayne Davies has won some of the sport’s biggest races in a career that has spanned several decades and she attributes much of her success to Alford, who was a key part of a remarkable run for the “Green Team” through the ‘90s and into the 2000s.
“He’s always been part of the ‘Green Team’. A lot of our success has been because he has driven our horses,” Davies said following Alford’s 8000th winning drive on Wednesday night.
“He used to come down when he was a young kid. He’d come down after Moonee Valley, work horses that morning and we’d go to the trials with a dozen horses. He’s just been an integral part of our team. There’s no one who deserves success more than him.”
It was early in Alford’s career that his skill – and aggressive approach – caught Davies’ attention, and it wasn’t long before “Puppet” was part of the team.
“Chris was just starting off and I said, ‘that Alford kid, he’s a good little driver. We should put him on a few’,” Davies said.
“I was in the first race he drove for us, I was one-out, one-back and he was on the fence. He nearly knocked me down to get out.
“He was just an aggressive driver and I like aggressive drivers. I said to (partner) Noel (Alexander), ‘let’s put him on a couple’.”
While Alford’s talent was there for all to see, Davies said there was some reluctance by some owners to have such a young and inexperienced driver behind their horse.
“It took a while to convince the owners, a lot didn’t want a kid on them, but he started winning races and we just got better,” she said.
“We didn’t have much at the time, they were only just average horses – very average horses – but he was such a good little driver. Aggressive, could get a horse out of the gate and could get them to the line.
“We started going to the yearling sales, got better horses and it evolved from there.”
Asked if there was one highlight that stood out, Davies didn’t hesitate to nominate their Inter Dominion success with Golden Reign.
“Going over to Christchurch and winning the Inter Dominion, that was unbelievable,” she said.
“Everyone expected Chris to take off and go around them because he used to sit in the breeze, he was such a strong horse.
“Everyone expected him to come. They were all looking, all waiting, but Chris just sat back in the field. They all said he couldn’t sprint – oh well he sprinted – he rounded them up down the back straight and he had the audacity to kick in the straight. He just kept going.
“That field he beat in New Zealand, that was the best ever assembled.”
A year prior to Golden Reign’s Inter Dominion success, the “Green Team” combined to win the Cranbourne Pacing Cup in very different circumstances.
“He had a puncture for the last 1200m. He was in between two fillies – Blossom Lady on the inside and Tigerish on the outside – they both headed him, and he thought ‘uh ah, the fillies aren’t going to beat me’, and he kicked back and beat them. He dragged a flat tyre, it was a great effort really.”
Davies was unsure how many wins they’d combined for over their 35-year association (other than to say there’d been ‘a helluva lot’), but Alford’s impact on Davies and partner Noel Alexander couldn’t be measured solely by success on the track.
“We just love him - he’s like a brother to me, we sort of grew up together,” she said.
“Chris has been enormous for us, we can’t think him enough for what he’s done. He deserves everything, he really does, he is the greatest of all time.”
*Golden Reign was the first of Alford’s five Decron Cranbourne Gold Cup winners. He’ll be aiming for a sixth title when he drives Kanena Provlima in Saturday night’s $100,000 feature.