Harness racing returns to Horsham on Thursday afternoon with an eight-event card commencing at 1.12pm and winding up with the "lucky last" at 5.33pm.
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Highlights of the day's racing include the $8000 Alabar Horsham 3YO Classic which sees the Western Vics - Potential Artist (Horsham), Wunderland (Terang), He Will Wantano & Perilous (Heywood) and Danceforme (Armstrong) pitted against "the rest" - Emma Stewart Southern Burgundy (Cardigan) and No Win No Worries (Parwan).
Unfortunately, Victorian race meetings continue to be closed to the public, conducted behind closed gates under strict CV19 protocols and with only participants and essential officials in attendance.
Harness fans can follow all the action at the Horsham Racing Centrel live and free on their devices @ Trots Vision or national racing radio network.
Full fields, form-guides, gear changes, selections and punting plans are available at www.harness.org.au.
It's such a great story - Stawell hobby owner/trainer Ray Harvey and his modestly bred gelding The Penny Drops, upstages the big stables and their blue-bloods with a trio of victories in the Kilmore, Swan Hill and Maryborough Trotting Cups.
Len Baker reports - "Giant-killing 5yo gelding The Penny Drops added another feature race to his CV on Sunday afternoon when successful in the 2690 metre standing start $25,000 TAB Maryborough Trotters Cup.
The Penny Drops with regular reinsman Grant Campbell in the sulky stepped cleanly from his 10-metre handicap and settled mid-field with Robbie Royale (Chris Alford) working from the same mark to assume the lead.
Not wasting any time, Campbell sent The Penny Drops forward entering the straight on the first occasion to park outside the leader for the remainder of the trip.
When Alford kicked clear on turning for home, Robbie Royale appeared all over the winner however The Penny Drops rallied strongly despite the tough trip and prevailed by a neck in a rate of 2:02.8, just 0.3 seconds outside Down Under Muscles' track record set in 2011."
*Michael Howard HRV - "Great Western trainer Peter Manning and daughter/reinswoman Kerryn Manning appear to have a Group 1 talent ready to rip through the season's headline races after the 2yo trotter Plymouth Chubb captured the time-honoured Tatlow Stakes on Saturday night at Ballarat in stunning style.
On the doorstep of the famed Redwood Classic, Kerryn Manning told TrotsVision that "tonight was probably his biggest test" and the powerhouse advanced with flying colours.
The eighth-straight win came after Plymouth Chubb started from the widest back row gate to settle fourth in the running line before leading up the three-wide train with a lap to run. He quickly accounted for leader Aldebaran Misty and breeze horse Courage Stride and it was soon a one-horse race.
"I just asked him for a little bit and he just zipped past them, so it's nice to have that attribute in a trotter like that. He got a little bit tired at the line, still had the plugs in, but did it really well still."
In the end Plymouth Chub finished well clear of his rivals in a rate of 2.01.7 and extended his winning streak to eight - a huge thrill for owner-breeders Gary Benson and Steven Hegyi and there is likely more to come.
Plymouth Chubb looks set to next tackle the Aldebaran Park Redwood Classic on October 31 at Maryborough.
"He has all the attributes of a really nice horse."
Whether he takes the next step we will see but he is certainly beating everything that's around quite comfortably at the minute."
Ararat horseman Michael Bellman is currently Victoria's busiest reinsman with 1101 drives under the belt, with Chris Alford the only other driver to pass the 1000 mark for the 2021 season.
Bellman's treble at Yarra Glen last week took his tally to 114 wins with 47 of his drives finishing in the first four placings. He sits in 6th spot on state's premiership table with 10 weeks remaining.
They're off @ Horsham (D) Thursday October 21st; Terang (N) Monday November 1st & Tuesday 9th; Horsham (D) Monday 15th.
West Side Wimmera Wally
- Best bet: R4 No.1 Blackbird Miss $6 win
- Value bet: R7 No.2 Local Icon $4 each way
- Flexi bet: Box quinella R2 Nos. 1,2,4,8 spend $6
- Last return: $27.00 @ Horsham gallops
Balance: $834.20