There’s some exciting times ahead for Camperdown’s Lawlor family as untapped mare Sweet Ideal starts to realise her considerable potential.
The lightly-raced four-year-old blew her rivals away with a dazzling final quarter at Melton on Saturday night to capture her sixth career win at start 10.
It was a sensational performance second-up from a spell and has driver Darryl Lawlor plotting a course towards the rich Breeders Crown and Vicbred series late in the year.
“She’s a work in progress... she’s got the most raw talent of any horse I’ve ever had,” the 47-year-old said. “She consistently runs home in 26.2, 26.1 at Terang three-wide out of the hats, so the sky is the limit.”
While Darryl drives and his father Gary trains Sweet Ideal, the pair bred and own the daughter of Sweet Lou, who is closely related to one of the family’s former stars, Bad Billy.
Bad Billy raced 93 times for 18 wins and ran fourth in an Inter Dominion heat behind Im Pats Delight at Ballarat in 2018.
“I’m right into breeding and breed all my own, and I’m just lucky that Dad lets me go to any sire I want to go to. I’m the brains behind that operation,” Darryl said.
“I’ve got the wife and the kids that help out at home, and Dad’s just massive. Without him we couldn’t even have one. It’s a team effort.”
Sweet Ideal’s six wins have netted just over $30,000 in prizemoney and she is nominated for a race back at Melton this coming Saturday night.