A TRAINING treble to Chris Svanosio and wins to young mentors Kate Hargreaves and Tayla French has spearheaded a dominant performance by Bendigo region trainers at Tuesday night’s meeting at Shepparton Harness Racing Club.
Svanosio, who is enjoying one of the winningest runs of his career, got on the board early when he quinellaed a 2190m trot with Majestic Devil and Severe Storm, who was driven by young reinswoman Michelle Phillips.
The race was a triumph for Bendigo’s training ranks, with horses trained by Svanosio, Glenn Douglas (Bacardi Jess) and Graeme Dalton (Coco Culture) filling the top four positions.
Svanosio added the second leg of his treble with Major McRae in the Nic Dewar Memorial (2190m) for class one pacers, with Blake Micallef in the sulky, before capping the evening with an impressive victory with four-year-old trotter Kyvalley Finn.
The win of Major McRae was the second within a week for horse and trainer, following the four-year-old’s win at Mildura last Wednesday.
His Shepparton treble boosted the number of wins as either a trainer or driver for Svanosio in the last week to nine.
The breakdown includes two at Mildura last Wednesday, two at Maryborough and one at Shepparton last Thursday, and the undoubted highlight, Anywhere Hugo’s victory at Tabcorp Park Melton on Saturday night.
READ MORE:
The tone for a successful night for Bendigo’s harness racing fraternity was set early when the partnership of trainer Hargreaves and driver Alex Ashwood combined to win their third race with the former Peter Manning-trained pacer Toolern Art Miss.
The mare, who has now won five races overall from 26 starts, has been racing consistently for Hargreaves and Ashwood, as evidenced by his four consecutive placings at Bendigo, Echuca, Swan Hill and Gunbower before Tuesday night’s win.
It continued a successful run for the couple, who scored with the trotter Well Defined at Geelong early last week.
READ MORE:
The Heathcote-based father-daughter combination of Terry and Tayla French had plenty of cause for celebration after Joey Hangover scored at the longish odds of $18.70 in the Nic Dewar Memorial for C0 pacers.
It was the four-year-old gelding’s second career win in 16 starts and his second at Shepparton within three weeks.
Perhaps the only dampener for Tayla French, who drove the Geoffrey Allen-trained Maggies Missile in the race, was not being in the sulky, with Codi Rauchenberger claiming the winning drive.
“I called it before the race (Joey’s Hangover) was going to win,” she said.
“I wouldn’t say he has great ability, but there wasn’t any superstars in the field. It wasn’t a very strong race for him to be in, but he has being going well.
“I didn’t realise he was paying that much, he ran well and two starts before that he won.
“He’s nominated again at Wangaratta on Sunday and I reckon he will go close in that field.”
French, one of four Team Teal ambassadors for Bendigo, was thrilled to see plenty of success flowing the way of Bendigo region trainers and drivers, and was especially rapt for Svanosio, for whom she works for a couple of days each week.
READ MORE:
Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.
