Talented kiwi squaregaiter Sundons Gift claimed an outstanding all-the-way victory for a hat-trick of victories in the prestigious $100 000 Group 1 Australian Trotting Grand Prix (2240m) at Tabcorp Park Melton on Friday night.
Eight-year-old Sundons Gift ($8.70) driven by trainer Chris Lang defeated Will Trapper ($20.30) by just 1.5m with another outsider and local star Save A Sixpence ($23.10) 7.3m back from the winner in third.
Odds-on favourite at $2.30 and stablemate to Sundons Gift, Skyvalley managed fourth while the other highly fancied runner Springbank Richard ($2.40) finished a dismal fifth some 13m from the winner, despite having had the inside run. The poor performance put an end to Skyvalley’s impressive string of six victories.
The victory proved the reigning Inter Dominion champion, Sundons Gift, was back in winning form after placing eight in last week’s Cranbourne Trotters Cup. The bay gelding ran a gross time of 2:45.2 for a sharp mile rate of 1:58.7, which beat Skyvalley’s track record by half a second.
Sundons Gift will start next in the coveted $50 000 Group 1 Bill Collins Trotters Sprint on Friday night.
Other feature trotting events held over the weekend were the $15 000 Yarra Valley Trotters Cup won by ten-year-old Solar Active in Victoria on Friday night. The $10 000 Wedderburn Trotters Cup (2690m) followed at Maryborough on Sunday, where Don King claimed victory for his 12th win from 22 career starts.
2009 Australian Trotting Grand Prix Results:
Placing |
Horse |
Prizemoney |
Row & Br. |
Trainer |
Driver |
Margin (m) |
| 1 |
SUNDONS GIFT (NZ) |
$67 500 | Fr3 | C W Lang | C W Lang | - |
| 2 |
WILL TRAPPER |
$15 000 | Sr1 | J F Noonan | T C Matthews | 1.50 |
| 3 |
SAVE A SIXPENCE |
$10 000 | Fr2 | G A Lang | G Lang | 7.30 |
| 4 |
SKYVALLEY (NZ) |
$5 000 | Sr2 | C W Lang | C A Lang | 9.10 |
| 5 |
SPRINGBANK RICHARD (NZ) |
$2 500 | Fr1 | P M Williamson | N P Williamson | 13.20 |
| 6 |
ARMED GUARD |
- | Fr6 | R A Shinn | C N Shinn | 13.90 |
| 7 |
RONERAIL |
- | Fr4 | M A Hughes | J N Quinlan | 16.20 |
| 8 |
ACACIA RIDGE |
- | Sr5 | G D Hoban | G D Hoban | 19.60 |
| 9 |
DREAM A MOMENT (NZ) |
- | Fr5 | K E Manning | K E Manning | 21.10 |
| 10 |
IN PURSUIT (NZ) |
- | Sr4 | M C Marais | M C Marais | 22.10 |
| 11 |
VIVA LA FEVER |
- | Fr7 | R A Graham | B R Gath | 23.80 |
| 12 |
LA MOSCA |
- | Sr3 | G J Bailey | R A Payne | 45.90 |
Hi I am new to harness racing /betting and i’m wondering if there is a website that will tell when ‘You bet John’ will be racing next. I have searched online with no luck
Regards
Fiona
You could use the SportsBet Black Book program?
It allows you to follow your favourite horses and receive email or SMS notification when your selections are scheduled to race.
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We’ve published an article about the Black Books program here for you, Fi
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