A well-travelled trotter that once spent time with the late great Gavin Lang bobbed up to win at massive odds for champion horsewoman Kerryn Manning on Saturday night.
Having her first start for the Great Western trainer-driver, Adelle ($26) forecast a promising future in the Victorian squaregaiting ranks with a narrow but tough success in the Reliance Real Estate Trot.
The daughter of Orlando Vici has only been with Manning just over a month, but she headed to Tabcorp Park Melton confident of a good showing after some exciting signs on the training track.
“She’s been working really, really good at home. Works like a really nice horse,” Manning said of the former New Zealander.
“I’ve watched her replays and she either goes really good or she gallops. So, I was hoping tonight she went really good and, yep, we got that.
“She’s been (with me) long enough to get a good grounding on the track and obviously came from racing, so she was fairly forward. I didn’t have to do a lot with her to get her fit.”
Manning settled the five-year-old midfield in the running line from her back row draw and peeled three-wide down the back straight the final time. She loomed up to early leader Swiss Miss and race favourite Hopeful Beauty approaching the turn, but took until the last 50m to wrest the lead and win the race.
Adelle had one start for Andy Gath in October after joining his team from the New South Wales stables of Blake Fitzpatrick. Lang first got the horse from New Zealand in 2019 and won all of his three runs with her.
Manning felt Adelle would likely measure up to the open metropolitan trotting mares here in Victoria.
“It’s hard to say. She works at home like she is (up to them),” Manning said.
“She ran home in 28-something at home the other day and nobody at home has done that for a long time. And she did it quite nicely.
“Obviously at the races there’s a bit more pressure, it’s a bit different, but if she has a nice run in those sorts of races, I think she’ll keep up no worries. Whether she’s good enough to beat those sorts of horses I don’t know, but time will tell.
“She’s heading in the right direction, and she gives me the feel that she will be competitive in better races.”
The victory was one of two on the night for Manning, who teamed up with Shaun McNaulty-trained Yorkshire to win the TAB Long May We Play Claiming Masters.
And she was just denied a treble in the night’s feature event, the Equine Effect Westburn Grant Free For All, when Torrid Saint poked his nose in front near the post to deny Bettor Be The Bomb back-to-back victories.
Amazingly, it was the third time in a row the pair had run the quinella, with Torrid Saint taking a 2-1 lead in those battles after reversing the finish from the Catanach’s Jewellers Pace on November 19.
The triumph completed a double for driver Jack Laugher and trainer Julie Douglas, who earlier won the DNR Logistics Pace with talented former Kiwi Rick Reilly.
And there were smiles all around for Mick Blackmore-trained Jackson Square, who won his first race since April 2019 by leading all the way in the MKMV Pty Ltd and Cobber International Trot.
