Mt Rowan’s Greg Murnane only has the one horse on his books at the moment, but she delivered him a career highlight as a trainer with victory in the Alabar Vicbred Platinum Mares Sprint Championship Final (1720m) on Saturday night.
It was a result to savour for the 67-year-old, who prepared the talented Shesmybaby to win the $40,000 Group 3 event at Tabcorp Park Melton.
It was just Murnane’s 19th success as a trainer and clearly his most lucrative.
Josh Duggan produced a perfectly-timed drive with the four-year-old, who sat midfield in the running line before peeling out approaching the turn and then running down Jilliby Adore (Margaret Lee/Jason Lee) in the shadows of the post. That early leader held on to run second, with Its Ebonynivory (John Yeomans/Chris Alford) finishing hard for third.
“She (Jilliby Adore) did get a bit of a gap on us and credit to my mare, she tries her heart out,” Duggan said.
“I knew I’d still keep coming as soon as something got outside her, and once the other one got outside her, she really knuckled down.”
Shesmybaby, a daughter of Heston Blue Chip, ran in three heats of the series – winning one at Horsham on July 12 – and backed up her success at Melton last week with the seventh victory of her 17-start career.
“I’ve got a lot of time for her. Ever since I’ve sat on her, she’s improved every time,” Duggan said.
“Now she’s got the fluffies on the side of her bridle, she’s switched on a lot more…
“I’m sure she’ll get to free for all mares level, she’s just going to need the right run in the races.”
The other Group 3 event on Saturday night was the Alamora Tarneit Now Selling Lightfoot Laurels, and it was won by the emerging Keayang Livana.
Trained by Marg Lee and driven by her son Jason, the daughter of Imperial Count overcame a 20m handicap to find the lead during the early stages of the race and then proved too strong in the run to the wire. She held off Im Ready Jet (Anton Golino/Jack Laugher) and Norquay (Chris Svanosio) to win in a mile rate of 2:00:6min over the 2240m.
“She’s definitely got great manners now. Early days, that was the only little knock we did have on her,” Jason Lee said.
“I don’t think she scored up her first four starts and would trot great after the mobile would go or after the tapes, but she just did a few things wrong.
“She’s become a real good package now where she can leave the gate good, and her stand manners – even though we hadn’t raced her for a while from the tapes – have been really good.”
The 2020 Vicbred Super Series 4YO Trotting Mares Final champion has now won 12 of 26 starts for more than $160,000 in prizemoney.
Earlier in the night, Paddy Lee’s handy squaregaiter Celtic Cash made amends for his mistake the week earlier with a narrow win in The Fresh Connection Trot (2240m).
The son of Ready Cash galloped during the last lap seven days earlier, but got it all right to register a fourth success from his past five outings.
“I just pushed him too hard into that last corner (last week). So tonight, he was on the fence and he’s just a totally different horse on the fence. He’s so much more comfortable,” driver Glen Craven said.
“We got a little bit of luck early. We were just able to hold up early, then get off and get around to the front.
“He’s always hard to beat, but he had to dig in hard again tonight and did a good job.”
Celtic Cash has now won seven of his 20 starts.
Triple Eight (Jess Tubbs/Greg Sugars) took out the TAB Our Maestro Free For All (2240m), Kate Gath and Jack Laugher drove winning doubles and Julie Douglas and Emma Stewart prepared two winners each on a big night at Victorian harness racing headquarters.
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