Slow-to-go Dino delivering the goods after a second chance

There was a very real possibility that we may never have seen Aldebaran Dino at the races, such was his lacklustre start to life on the track.

The son of Andover Hall simply “wasn’t quick enough” in the early days of his career, but some time away in the paddock to let nature do its thing seems to have worked wonders for the Ruth Shinn-trained gelding.

After that lengthy break, Aldebaran Dino was given a second chance to prove himself as a worthwhile racing prospect, and quickly showed the Shinn family he was up to the mark.

“The only thing he had in his favour was that he was a good looking horse and he had a good gait. He always had a good gait,” Ruth’s husband and veteran horseman Noel Shinn said.

“When we brought him home from the sales, we would have tried for nearly 12 months and he just wasn’t quick enough at the time.

“We threw him out in the paddock and then (studmaster) Danny Thackeray said to me ‘are you going to try that horse again?’

“We got him back and when we brought him back the second time, from there, we couldn’t believe how much he improved. You couldn’t believe it was the same horse.”

Noel recalls first laying eyes on Aldebaran Dino, who suffered a leg injury as a yearling and failed to meet his reserve at the sales.

One thing led to another, the Shinns came to an agreement with breeder Duncan McPherson at Aldebaran Park and the rest is history.

He won his first two starts at the races as a four-year-old in May this year, and has gone on to claim five of nine under the reinsmanship of Ruth and Noel’s son Chris.

He will tackle the biggest assignment of his career so far when he lines up from barrier six in Friday night’s Hylands Breeders Crown Championship for four-year-old trotting entires and geldings.

The Group 2 contest features key Inter Dominion fancies Mufasa Metro (barrier one) and Parisian Artiste (five), as well as in-form trotter Aldebaran Zeus (nine), and is one of the highlights on night one of the big Breeders Crown double-header from Tabcorp Park.

Wall-to-wall TrotsVision coverage will be headed up by caller Dan Mielicki and hosts Rob Auber, Kirsten Graham and Steve Cleave in what shapes as a sensational lead-up to Saturday night’s Breeders Crown Group 1 finals card.

Picture: Chris Shinn and Aldebaran Dino by the Maryborough Harness Racing Club.