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A terrific drive at her home track was the fitting showcase for an extraordinary milestone, with Kerryn Manning recording her 1000th victory as a trainer at Stawell yesterday.
Valiente’s victory in the Father’s Day Pace was Manning’s 998th Australian win, which coupled with Arden Rooney’s 2015 New Zealand Trotting Cup and Kakoura Cup wins clinched the four-figure achievement.
“I hadn’t realized they added up quite so high,” Manning said when advised of her milestone. “That’s made my day feel much better.
“I love racing at Stawell and I had also had a little mini-pony born as well, so it’s all very happy.”
While Manning’s zeroing in on 4000 driving wins, with 3971 Australian victories to her credit, she said the training milestone was particularly pleasing.
“It’s more rewarding to do all the work with the horses and get a victory, especially one that is a bit tricky and also for the owners as well,” she said.
“I still remember my first win, which was a grey horse called Special Game.”
Manning may have had the $2.40 favourite in the Father’s Day Pace, but it certainly took a class steer to get Valiente to victory by a head, finding an escape route leading into the final turn to sweep wide and salute.
It made it four from four for the Mach Three gelding since he joined Manning’s camp.
“He has been quite good since he came down,” she said. “It was a bit of a step up for him.
“I didn’t think he could win that, but he did a bit of work early and has a good sprint on him and we were able to use that.”
