Taking Sweet and the sour with troublesome mare

When she’s Sweet she’s very, very good, and when she’s bad she’s horrid.

The play on a popular poem may ring very familiar for trainer Phil Chircop and reinsman Greg Sugars, who have had their hands full with a talented but troublesome pacing mare.

Their fingers will be crossed that Sweet Louise puts her best foot forward in The Breakthrough Pace Final, a new race series which culminates with a $50,000 Group 2 at Tabcorp Park Melton tonight.

“She’s such a big horse and she hurt herself when she was only young,” Chircop said before last week’s second placing in the heats behind Kimble.

“She has had hock issues, knee issues, she’s not the most sound horse. We don’t know how long we have racing with her, but she’s got a lot of ability.”

Trots fans have certainly seen the best and worst of her first hand, including in last month’s Vicbred Super Series heat for four-year-old mares when Sweet Louise, a $2.60 chance, consistently hung in while sitting in the breeze.

The poor manners would result in her fading into seventh and narrowly missing finals qualification.

“She’s been wayward all the time,” Chircop said. “She hangs in on the turns and runs out up the straight.

“We’ve tried everything, blinds, lugging poles. It’s something that’s best left up to the driver. The more gear you put on her, the worse she is. We just try not to upset her.”

And that’s why he’s attempted to pair her with some of the sport’s best, snapping up drivers of the ilk of Sugars or Chris Alford when they are available.

Sugars is back in the sulky for Saturday night’s final where he will firstly be looing to overturn the big 16.3m margin on Kimble from last week and also outgun the rest of the talented field, which progressed through the two heats at Bray Raceway.

Sweet Louise, who is only having her fifth race start since December 2020, has gate four with Kimble likely to start a short-priced favourite for trainer-driver Matthew Craven.