Trots Centre: Nixon having gait old time, trots out Mielicki

“And clearing out is Mielicki – the world is his oyster – Mielicki wins the Vicbred Super Series trotters’ two-year-old final,” calls Dan Mielicki this New Year’s Eve at Tabcorp Park Melton.

It’s the fun-filled scenario of dreams for owner-breeder Shannon Nixon, whose first trotter, Mielicki, debuts at Kilmore tonight and carries with it the surname of Victoria’s voice of the trots.

“I just thought I’d love it if Dan called the horse Mielicki first across the line at Melton,” Nixon said of the inspiration behind naming his Majestic Son two-year-old. “I rang Dan and he said he had no problems with it.”

“I couldn’t say no, could I?” Mielicki said, ahead of his namesake’s debut in tonight’s Jet Roofing 2YO Trotters Handicap, which will stream at 7pm on Trots Vision. “There have been a couple of others with Dan involved or who have purposefully spelt Mielicki wrong to get it through, but they haven’t gone to quite this height. There’s no excuse for me to pronounce it incorrectly.”

While Mielicki will not call Mielicki tonight, with Luke Humphreys covering Kilmore and Dan calling Melton, spelling and pronunciation are no small points.

Mielicki’s surname, which is of Polish origin, has been so regularly mistreated it was in fact Nixon’s initial inspiration.

“I had always wanted to have a horse called ‘How Do You Spell Mielicki’, because there have been so many ways that his name has been misspelt,” Nixon said.

And Dan himself could see the good that could come from this horse becoming a track star.

“We can stress that this is how it is spelt and pronounced,” he said, adding “you are chuffed someone thinks of you and wants to commit a horse to your name, hopefully because it’s got a bit of ability”.

For Nixon, the adventure goes well beyond just a playful name, with the colt also Nixon Bloodstock’s first foray into squaregaiting, a gait the Onefortysevenseven podcaster has publicly, light-heartedly vilified.

“On my first trip to Redwood I clocked up the idea of breeding a trotter. It was a moment of weakness, I bloody hate them still,” he joked.

Opportunity knocked with the chance to purchase Lady McKendon, a seven-time winning mare who Nixon placed with trainer Emma Stewart.

She ran second to K D Muscles in her only start for Stewart, but “was a bit unwell” and so instead deferred for a broodmare career.

“I liked the family, which is a deep Kiwi trotting family that includes Vulcan,” Nixon said.

He pared her with stallion Majestic Son to produce Mielicki, “a real nice foal”.

“He was going to be trained by Gavin (Lang), but when he took ill Gav suggested we send it up to (David Aiken),” Nixon said.

“Brent Thomson broke him in, did the early groundwork and really liked him. Josh (Aiken) and David have been really pleased and, I have to admit, there is something lovely about watching a young trotter working without all the gear and running well.”

Mielicki has been in work for several months, trialling at Shepparton for third placings on April 2 and 3 and then a second placing on April 23, when Craig Rail noted in his trial file the two-year-old “stepped away well enough” but “still appears to be very green”.

More will be learned tonight, but Nixon is optimistic of a positive showing.

“He’s left the stand well, done everything right, which is half the battle, and he looked to do it well within himself,” he said.

“There are 10 in the race, so it will take some manners to navigate through the field. I just want to see him have a good, quiet trip, get around safely and hit the line good.

“With trotters, there’s so much more emphasis on manners than a pacer, if they are wayward you are completely stuffed. If you have a pacer who is a bit green you can still get over that with ability, but that’s not the case for a trotter and that part of it has me anxious a bit.”

If all goes well, the dream of Mielicki calling Mielicki to a Group 1 win may yet become reality.

“I don’t have a top horse at the moment, this is the one I hope to get us to metro races,” Nixon said.

“He is Vicbred, with them being pushed to the end of the year it will depend on how happy David and Josh are with him.

“It would be great to be racing in those series, because it can be so lucrative to have a good young trotter up and going.”

TALKING TROTS ON SENTRACK:

Hosts Jason Bonnington and Blake Redden have another big line-up for today’s Talking Trots on SENTrack, which runs weekdays from 11am-1pm on 1377AM in Melbourne, 657AM in Perth and 1575AM in Wollongong.

Click here to listen live and for links to download the SEN app.