Trots Centre: The Little Master back in the mix and ready for big night

Every cloud has a silver lining and trots legend Brian Gath’s making the most of this one, with the move to region-based racing creating driving opportunities for the 75-year-old reinsman.

Gath will steer four at Bendigo tonight, the first time since December 2017 he has piloted so many in a single meeting, and had his mare Star Dream, first emergency in race one, got a start he would have driven five for the first time in almost six years.

“Instead of having one drive every once in a while I’m having three or four drives, which is good,” Gath said. “I love it, bit like the old days. I used to have five drives a meeting.”

Gath has already steered two winners since the change to region-based racing on April 2, which has him equal sixth on the Central region leaderboard for most driving wins, having produced them from just seven starts.

“I’ve been popping up and getting the odd winner too, which is good,” he said. “Certainly if you have more than one drive you’ve got more of a chance. It’s a bit like riding a bike or driving a car, once you have learned it you can always do it.

“Most people are very pleased with the situation. Everyone’s in their own region and happy. Everyone can get a run and we are saving a lot of money with the lack of travel. I’m very happy we are able to keep racing. It’s a marvelous idea.”

He’ll be hoping to add to his win tally tonight.

His night begins with Nil Desperandum in race four, with the new addition to trainer Ron Sheppard’s stable also new to Gath, but has been marked an $8.50 chance by Goodform analyst Blake Redden.

Gath then takes the reins of Lets West in the fifth and believes the wide front row draw won’t be a notable impediment because the horse also goes back anyway.

“He is a real nice horse,” he said. “He always drops out of the gates but gets home good. He’s a pretty smart horse. It’s a bit of bad luck the favourite (Betternbetter) has drawn the pole, he’s a real good horse, but I’ll be getting home.”

Gath believes his next drive, Animated, will be his best victory chance on the program, with the Ross Graham gelding drawing inside the back row, following out polemarker Rocknroll Baby.

“The one goes all right, he can hold his own out of the gate and at worse I should be three-back the fence over the long distance. If I can pop out on him at the turn I should be a definite chance, but will need a bit of luck.”

Gath then closes the night with Chooz Reactor, who starts from gate one in the last.

“She’s a really nice sit-sprint horse and has a bit of gate speed,” he said. “She probably needs the run. Has had a fairly long spell. I think if she was fit she would win, but she’s probably not quite at her peak.”

And of his own mare Star Dream, who missed a start in the first but will be back on track before long?

“Every time she has raced she has gone no good,” he said. “She has shown a lot of potential at home, but she has a lot of nerves and doesn’t travel well. She races about five seconds below what she can run at home and might need another season. We will keep her going until she settles down.”

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.

The guests include:

From 11am: Keith Cotchin

From 11.30am: Kate Hargreaves

From noon: Mick Guerin

From 12.30pm: Ryan Bell 

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