Trots Centre: Stewart stars dominate Ballarat, now comes Kilmore

Beach Villa was breathtaking on his home track of Ballarat last night as Emma Stewart landed all four heats of the rich Australian Pacing Gold Vic Gold Bullion series for the juvenile pacers.

And there could be much more APG success in store for the Stewart team tonight at Kilmore, with a host of runners through the three-year-old second round qualifiers.

Race caller Dan Mielicki declared Beach Villa “a star on day one” when he bolted in on debut at Tabcorp Park Melton, and followed up with “he’s a good horse with a capital G, double O, capital D” when he strolled in at Bray Raceway on Thursday evening.

The son of Somebeachsomewhere led easily with Kate Gath in the sulky and ripped home in back-to-back 27.7sec quarters to win by more than 17m.

“He’s got something about him, hasn’t he?,” Gath said.

“I don’t really think he knows what he’s doing yet and even I was surprised at that (last) half because it just didn’t feel fast. And he just felt like it was pretty cruisy. He’s an exciting horse.”

Beach Villa’s success came shortly after stablemate Khafaji blew them away on debut in the first heat for the colts and geldings.

Then came the Stewart fillies. And they didn’t disappoint.

First off it was Petillante (Chris Alford), who crossed to lead and went all the way to make it two wins from two starts, before Playing Up (Gath) locked in the same career record with a front-running display in the last race of the night.

The first five horses across the line in each of the divisional heats qualify for $125,000 Group 1 state finals at Tabcorp Park Melton on May 29, with the fastest sixth place-getter taking up the emergency spot.

Attention now turns to the three-year-old pacers, which step out for second-round APG heats tonight at Kilmore.

Stewart will take a team of five to the races, with Group 1-winning pair Tough Tilly and Joanna lining up in the sole heat for the fillies and Act Now appearing the key chance in the first of two battles between the colts and geldings.

David Aiken’s uber-talented Narutac Prince has drawn gate one for the other clash between the boys, where he looks well placed to string together his sixth-straight victory.

First and second horses across the line automatically progress to $350,000 Group 1s, with other qualifiers from around the country eligible to make up the national finals on May 29.

TALKING TROTS ON SENTRACK:

Join Jason Bonnington and Toby McKinnon from 11am-1pm each weekday for Trots Life on SENTrack, which airs in Victoria via Melbourne (1593AM), Sunraysia (89.1FM) and Latrobe Valley (91.9FM); in New South Wales via Sydney (1539AM), Central Coast (801AM), Illawarra (1575AM) and Griffith (90.30FM); in Queensland via Brisbane (1053AM), Atherton (99.1FM), Ingham (96.9FM), Darling Downs (91.5FM) and Kingaroy (96.3FM); and in Perth (657AM).

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