‘Addy’ update

IT was a mixed night for Spirit Of Bendigo fans at Lord’s Raceway last night.

The positive news was that Spirit Of Bendigo, or ‘Addy’ as she is best known, passed her mobile start qualification test and is now qualified to race.

The bad news is she ran a disappointing fourth in a field of four.

Af ter finishing second in her first trial last month, Spirit Of Bendigo lacked the speed of her rivals in last night’s trial.

“It’s the reality of racing – sometimes they have bad days,’’ trainer-driver Paul Campbell said last night.

“We’ll get the vet to go over her and make sure there’s nothing wrong.

“It was her first run behind a mobile which can make a huge difference. Some horses don’t like it.

“There’s room for improvement and we’re confident she’s got improvement in her.”

It wasn’t all doom and gloom.

Spirit Of Bendigo didn’t break and the winner of the trial, the Mark Thompson-trained Dieing Secret, ran a second quicker than the other two-year-old trial last night.

“She paced really well, but she couldn’t quicken when the leaders did,” he said.

“She qualified and that’s half the battle. She’s still learning.

“Her work at home has still been good.”

Spirit Of Bendigo could go back to the trials as soon as this Sunday at Lord’s Raceway.

“She’s had a solid week, so we’ll freshen her up a bit and then maybe trial her on Sunday,’’ Campbell said.

“We’ll see how she goes this Sunday and then reassess things.”

Addy: My racing life...

NOW that bought me down a peg or two.

Maybe I’ve been getting a bit ahead of myself.

That trial was a lot tougher than what I thought it was going to be.

For the first time I actually got quite nervous. I couldn’t stop doing number two’s in the warm-up.