IT MAY have taken 40 starts, but Huntly's Ian White never gave up hope on Blis Valley being able to break through for a win.
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The moment all horse owners look forward to finally arrived for White and his family on Wednesday night, when the five-year-old trotting gelding finally broke his maiden at Geelong.
Trained by Ian's father Bill, Blis Valley had only once been placed in the top three at his previous 39 starts.
Even his best result - a third in the 2019 Elmore Trotters Cup run on Boxing Day - did not look overly great on paper, with the son of six-time Group race winner Skyvalley and Suelaurian, finishing 57.5 lengths from the winner Scottish Sardius.
A subsequent ninth at St Arnaud on New Year's Eve and sixth at Ballarat (January 8) hardly filled punters with confidence as Blis Valley was sent out a $67 chance at Geelong.
But with the experienced Michael Bellman on-board, Blis Valley was able to cruise to the lead at the 400m mark, before holding on strongly to win by two metres ahead of Nicky's Son and Dicko Dixon, with the rest of the field more than 40-metres away.
White, who owns and bred Blis Valley with wife Susan, said the win brought a mix of relief and joy.
"We were relieved more than anything," he said.
"He has always shown some ability, but hasn't seemed to put it together on the racetrack.
"We've always liked him, but come race day he leaves his legs somewhere.
"We were always hopeful. A little luck went his way.
"We've tried a few different things in training; we've tried to do a bit of interval training with him and up the ante a bit. Things just fell into place on the night."
White was unlucky to miss the winning steer on Blis Valley, after opting to drive the stablemate Double Dot, who finished back in seventh.
That left the in-form Bellman to do the honours.
"I was going to drive him and then Shannon O'Sullivan was going to drive, but she got a suspension on Friday night," White said.
"With two (horses) in a race, I generally get on the one that's going to play up the worse, and she (Double Dot) can be a little bit of a handful, so I picked her.
"Michael has driven (Blis Valley) once before ... we'll try it again another day."
It went without saying, but White hoped it would not be a further 39 starts before Blis Valley picked up his next win
"Hopefully he's found the (winning) habit and enjoys the habit, but that's horse for you," he said.
"He's a nice horse ... a beautiful action and lovely action.
"We will give him a few days to get over it and look around for a similar race somewhere.
"He's only a lowly-rated horse, so there will be something else out there for him."
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