With the spotlight firmly pointed at Albion Park on Saturday night, the authoritative win of Alrighty at Melton rekindled memories of a feat we will never see again.
The Andy Gath-trained and Kate Gath-driven Alrighty resumed from a spell in style with an easy all-the-way win in the Logical Staffing Solutions Trot.
The winner carried the green with yellow stars made famous by Maoris Idol, the greatest trotter ever seen in this part of the world.
Seemingly a lifetime ago in 1978, Maoris Idol took on some of the best pacers in the land including Paleface Adios, Rip Van Winkle, Roma Hanover and Koala King in the Clive Uhr Championship at Albion Park.
In an extraordinary chapter of the sport, Maoris Idol won both his heats before finishing a gallant runner-up behind Rip Van Winkle in the final.
Alrighty was bred and is raced by Bryan Healy, the man who drove Maoris Idol throughout his stellar career.
After the race, Kate Gath acknowledged the privilege of donning the silks.
“It’s always great to wear these colors and to get a winner for Bryan. He’s such a lovely horse and we’re grateful that we’ve got him,” Gath said.
Gath completed a driving double when she partnered the Emma Stewart-trained Some American to victory in the Happy 40th Shannon O’Connor Pace.
Despite the two-metre margin on the line to the runner-up Hoorah Philtra, Gath said the result was never in doubt.
“He got it easy in front tonight and I let him slide at the 600 (metres), and gee he felt terrific around the bend and he was still getting to the line even though the second horse was making ground,” she said.
Chris Alford took the driving honours on the night with a treble.
Alford’s wife Alison produced a fine training performance when Unclad scored in the Hip Pocket Castlemaine Pace in his first appearance since finishing fifth in the Breeders Crown (2YO Trotting Colts and Geldings) Final in December.
Unclad enjoyed the sit behind the leader Prohibited Grace and made full use of the sprint lane to score from Aldebaran Abel and Freight Shaker.
Multiple Group 1 winner Gatesys Gem provided Alford with the middle pin of his treble when she held off Hoppy to take out the Garrards Horse and Hound Free For All Trot at only her second start since December.
Alford expects the Glenn Hunter-trained mare to build on her imposing career strike rate of 11 wins from 22 starts.
“She’ll keep up with the real good ones. She’s probably better with a sit maybe, but she’ll win a lot more races yet,” Alford said.
Alford completed his successful evening when he steered the Brent Lilley-prepared juvenile Kyvalley Dixon to victory in the Aldebaran Park 2YO Trot.
Alford peeled out of the one-out, one-back trail with 400 metres to travel and Kyvalley Dixon reeled in the leader and short-priced favourite Remembrance Time in the home straight to score by four metres.
“It all worked out well, we didn’t have to bustle much in the small field to stay handy and there was good speed in the first 400, which helped her. But she was pretty strong on the line,” he said.
Alford indicated that he was driving the best horse in the race.
“I thought this filly was probably a little bit better than the others if things went right. She got a little bit wonky a couple of times, but the further they went the further she would have won by,” he said.
