Maori’s back to start Inter Dom title defence in Ballarat

Maori Law begins the journey to his Inter Dominion Trotting Championship title defence when he steps out in Ballarat on Saturday night.

The nine-year-old returns in the Group 2 $30,000 John Slack Memorial Trotters Cup (2200m), a feature he won last year.

Not only was it then a training triumph for Meredith father and son Richard and Emmett Brosnan to have Maori Law back in victory lane after a long battle with injury, it signaled he was ready to deliver in the big time given it was his first win in 15 months and just his second success in almost three years.

He went on to do that in spades, winning the Group 1 Australasian Trotting Championship before going to New South Wales and conquering the Inter Dominion series in December.

Maori Law has had only the one race start since then  – a second to mighty mare Im Ready Jet in the Group 2 EB Cochran Trotters Cup in Ballarat in January.

With Maori Law refreshed and 100 per cent fit, Emmett Brosnan is excited about the campaign ahead. It will include the Inter Dominion on home soil in Victoria and next year, as a 10-year-old, his first Great Southern Star and Australian Trotting Grand Prix.

Brosnan said they had hoped to contest this year’s Great Southern Star in February, but a minor setback after the Cochran Cup had sent him to the paddock.

“He developed a bit of foot soreness so we tipped him out,” he said.

Brosnan said Maori Law was feeling really good on the back of the break.

He said while setbacks of any kind were never welcome, interruptions during his career had meant the son of Lawman was lightly raced for his age (59 starts for 20 wins and 18 minor placings).

“You put him out in the paddock after he works and he gets around like a younger horse,” he said.

Brosnan said Maori Law was not as forward as he was for last year’s John Slack Memorial when he was third-up.

“But in saying that, he has had a really strong build-up, including two really good trials,” he said.

As Inter Dominion champion, Maori Law returns to racing as one of the elder statesman of the gait, with retirement from the likes of Tornado Valley and Mclovin opening the door for a changing of the guard.

Brosnan is looking forward to having Maori Law back and carrying that mantle.

And he sees Ballarat as the perfect venue to be making the return.

“It’s his home track and he likes it. Being a bigger horse, he gets around it better than some other tracks,” he said.

If everything goes to plan, Bray Raceway will also be the track where Maori Law begins his Inter Dominion campaign, with Ballarat and District Trotting Club hosting the opening round of heats on Saturday, November 26.