Mornings added to her perfect record at Beckley Park while giving trainer Damien Burns the biggest win of his career on Saturday night.
The five-year-old mare backed up her metro victory in Geelong from mid-July with a commanding triumph in the Alabar Vicbred Platinum Pace (2100m), where she beat a top field of mares for young driver James Herbertson.
Burns, from Snake Valley, has won over 70 races in his time as a trainer, but none have been richer than the Group 3 feature worth $30,000.
Herbertson praised the mare, who has now won 14 races and eclipsed the $100,000 mark in prizemoney.
“She won her M0 here probably about five weeks ago now and she was able to pick up another,” Herbertson said.
“I think she’s just one of those horses, she’s an opportunist and tonight was a bit of a weaker race than what she’s been in.
“She had a really good run down in Tassie when they sent her down to Tassie and she clocked up a lot of wins down there.
“In this sort of class, she’ll race most weeks and she’ll pick up one every now and then for sure.”
It was a peach of a drive from Herbertson to get Mornings home. He slid back to last on the pegs from his barrier six draw and then tracked the well-fancied She Will Rock into the race approaching the turn. When that rival galloped upon straightening, Mornings was able to let down and finish too strong for her opponents. David Murphy’s Final Peace was second, with Matthew Craven’s Itzamajor Surprise third.
There’s major Group 1 plans afoot for Western Sonador and Rebecca Bartley’s little star proved he’s right on track to land a blow at the elite level with victory in Saturday night’s TAB Minuteman Free For All (2100m).
Bartley, who trains in partnership with Stephen O’Donohue, produced a cool front-running drive with the maturing five-year-old and he showed his best to take out the $24,000 feature.
The $100,000 VHRC Caduceus Classic at Bendigo next weekend shapes as the first key feature of the preparation for the son of Western Terror, who is being lined up for a number of other major races in coming weeks and months.
“Of course, the Victoria Cup and the Kilmore Cup before that, but we’ll probably head to Sydney with the Inters at the end of the year,” Bartley said.
“Hopefully they go ahead and I think he’ll handle the series really well.”
Western Sonador controlled Saturday night’s race from the front and zipped home in a 27.9 last quarter to hold off a wall of rivals, headed by Aaron Dunn’s Silent Major and Wolf Stride, who performed well first-up for new trainer Andy Gath.
Bartley said her horse’s manners had improved significantly from previous campaigns.
“He’s settled down a lot in the stabling area now. We always knew if he settled down, he’d take the next step,” she said.
“The horse he was in Sydney (during February and March), he was just completely opposite. He had a break, it’s done him the world of good and he’s really settled down now. He’s just lovely to be around.”
A couple of long winning droughts were broken early in the card, with A Jewel In The Crown and Chissy bringing some joy to patient connections.
A Jewel In The Crown ended a losing sequence spanning back to December 2019 when she led, handed up to Norquay and sprinted past that mare in the home straight to take out the Aldebaran Park Trot (1609m).
“She lost her way there for just a little bit when she first came back for this prep, but she’s always been high quality and we’ve always had a really good opinion of her,” driver Jason Lee said.
“It’s probably why (trainer and brother) Paddy (Lee) persevered there for a little bit, to try and sort her out. And he’s done the trick because she’s getting back to what she can do. She was doing that before this prep, in her previous preparations, she was a dominant winner in good races.”
Jason McNaulty-trained Chissy then led from start to finish for young driver Ryan Sanderson in the Mimosa Homes Trot (2100m).
The success was the six-year-old gelding’s first since April 2019, coming at just his third run for the campaign.
Gath’s up-and-coming star Majestuoso was brilliant in winning the Hygain Melton Trotters Free For All (2100m) at Group 3 level, while South Australian raider Brantley blew many quaddie punters out of the water with victory at fixed odds of $101 in the Waste Sense Pace (2100m).
Driver Chris Alford and trainer Brent Lilley combined for success with Queen Elida and I Cast No Shadow, with reinswoman Tayla French bookending the meeting with Azza and Chapter One.
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