THE Shelbourne-based team of Kate Hargreaves and Alex Ashwood had plenty of miles to cover on Wednesday, with runners engaged at both Shepparton and Terang.
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But the long haul was well worth it, with the stable returning home with three winners and a pair of placings from its six starters.
The team's winning run kicked-off at Shepparton in the afternoon, with the five-year-old gelding Well Defined collecting his 10th career win at start number 56 in the NR 52 to 120 trotters handicap.
Later that night, it was the turn of the improving filly More Than A Woman and recent stable acquisition Bottle Rock at Terang to add their names to the winner's list and give the stable three for the day and a career-best 11 winners for the month.
The treble followed a double the previous week at Kilmore with More Than A Woman and Playboy Shadow.
Hargreaves said it was the type of day that made all of the team's hard work worthwhile.
"It was a big day, but I was confident we could have a good day. But I guess you just never know," she said.
"I thought we were going to have a good day at Charlton on Monday and we didn't get a winner.
"I didn't get my hopes up too high, but I was at least confident Well Defined was going to win.
"He was super. He won off 30-metres and he did it really easily.
"I had a bit of trouble with him there for a while, trying to get him trotting properly. There were a few little issues, but he looks like he's back to his best.
"He worked very well during the week, which gave me plenty of confidence. And he's much better from the stand (start)."
It was Hargreaves' 10th win with Well Defined, who has now had 56 starts, with the first 10 those runs coming for his former trainer in New Zealand.
Hargreaves hopes a convincing 3.6m win is a sign of better things to come with the Majestic Son gelding.
"I'm waiting for the country cups to fire up again, they would be perfect for him," she said.
"The standing starts, and around those little tracks, he will be very hard to beat.
"Until then I am just happy to keep him ticking along."
'Impressive' was the word used by Hargreaves to describe the victory of the three-year-old filly More Than A Woman, who made it back-to-back wins following her maiden success at Kilmore on September 22.
"She made a move three-wide and went 27 something the third quarter and I thought turning for home she had done all of her work and might slow up," she said.
"But to her credit, she really fought on, especially when the one on the outside of her (The Dux) kept coming.
"She doesn't really show much at home, or give me much to go on, so I was really impressed with the win."
A terrific day was capped by a victory to Bottle Rock, who is on loan to the Hargreaves-Ashwood team from South Australian trainer Aaron Bain.
The four-year-old gelding had three previous starts for Mildura trainer Scott Garraway before landing at Shelbourne.
Driven by Ashwood, Bottle Rock duly knocked off his Vicbred bonus with an emphatic 22m win, much to the delight of his more than 200 owners, mostly in South Australia.
Pleasing for the stable, all three winners were steered by different drivers.
Ellen Tormey took to the reins in a brilliant performance aboard Well Defined; emerging youngster Jordan Leedham was successful on More Than A Woman; while Ashwood was in the sulky for the victory on Bottle Rock.
A career best-month continued the steady flow of accolades for the stable, which is also coming off a best-ever 12-months (from September '19 to August '20) with 59 winners (58 on Victorian tracks).
Nine individual horses scored wins during September, with More Than A Woman and Constantina recording two apiece.
With the racing season now extending until the end of December, Hargreaves sits sixth in the Victorian trainer's premiership on 69 wins, 46 seconds and 36 thirds.
The young trainer could not be prouder to have built significantly on her team's 2018-19 tally of 24 winners, especially with the travel restrictions that have been imposed on trainers and drivers for much of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Before coronavirus a lot of our winners - a good percentage - came from taking horses to Mildura and we haven't been able to do that," she said.
"To know that we can still get a good amount of winners without going up there is really encouraging."
Hargreaves-Ashwood stable September winners
September 1: Constantina (Shepparton)
September 2: Whisp Of Smoke (Ballarat)
September 10: Roquefort Cheese (Bendigo)
September 13: Zazu (Shepparton)
September 17: Constantina (Shepparton)
September 18: Beau Garcon (Horsham)
September 22: More Than A Woman (Kilmore); Playboy Shadow (Kilmore).
September 30: Well Defined (Shepparton); More Than A Woman (Terang); Bottle Rock (Terang)
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