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Chris Svanosio is hoping to launch a two-pronged assault on the upcoming feature races after the lightly raced former New Zealander Lovemeto outclassed his rivals in the Nevele R Stud Trotters Free For All at Melton.
Svanosio pressed for the lead with a lap to travel on the $1.45 favorite and the son of What The Hill put a gap on the opposition in the home straight scoring by 12 metres from Shes Ruby Roo in a mile rate of 1:54.5.
Lovemeto reeled off his last 800 metres in a 56.8 over the 1720 metre sprint trip.
The win completed back-to-back wins at Melton for the Group 1 winning Great Northern Trotting Derby winner since arriving at Svanosio’s stable earlier this year.
“His racing as a three-year-old showed that he is up to the very best ones so it’s a matter of keeping him sound and letting him build- there is no substitute for racing the better horses and he should just keep getting better and tonight was a good steppingstone for him,” Svanosio said.
“He hadn’t raced for so long prior to his first up win here so we wanted to give him a bit of an easy time and get him in the pool.
We’ve kept him just ticking along at home doing a lot of his work swimming without being too hard on him and we’re hoping the racing will really bring him along,” he said.
The winner is raced by prominent owners Merv and Meg Butterworth along with New Zealand racing identity Graeme Rogerson and Svanosio has his sights on larger spoils.
“I’ll make sure he gets home and pulls up well and I’ll talk to Merv and Graeme Rogerson and they’ve had good horses before, so they know what it’s about,” he said.
“So, I’ll work out a bit of a plan with them and hopefully he does measure up to those really good races
He is a good horse to work with Arcee Phoenix and get a good guide on him and we’re hoping that they’re both racing in the good races at some stage.”
