They’ll be coming from everywhere to take his Inter Dominion crown later in the year, but reigning champion Maori Law is back and ready to defend his title.
The Emmett and Richard Brosnan-trained gelding stepped out at the Melton trials on Monday night and worked home solidly against a field comprised mainly of pacers to finish seventh in a mile rate of 1:58.14min.
Maori Law has only had one run since winning the ID21 Trotting Championships Grand Final in December last year, with some injury issues plaguing him through early 2022 before a spell.
“He came right, he just had a sore foot but we decided just to give him a let-up,” Emmett said.
“Nothing significant came up, but we just took the cautious approach seeing as there was only one more race we were looking towards anyway.
“He’s had a fair break, so most likely (he’ll have) a couple of trials then (we’ll) look for a suitable race.”
Brosnan said the Inter Dominion was at the “top of the three” in terms of goals this preparation, with the time-honoured series to be held in Victoria at the end of the year. Heats are set down for Ballarat (November 26), Shepparton (November 29) and Geelong (December 3) before the grand final at Melton (December 10).
Maori Law was named Victoria’s standout five-year-old and above trotting entire or gelding at the Horse of the Year Awards earlier this month.
Meanwhile, superstar Ladies In Red impressed at the Melton trials after leading and zipping home in a slick 54.53sec last half for a mile rate of 1:52.81min.
It was the Emma Stewart-trained mare’s second trial this campaign ahead of her tilt at the Rising Sun in Queensland on July 9.