LODDON Valley Stud's John Campbell's decision to keep hold of Boxofchocolates is looking more astute by the week, after the mare cruised to an impressive first metropolitan-class win at Tabcorp Park Melton on Saturday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The five-year-old, who was bred and is owned by Campbell and is trained by Kent Harpley at Junortoun, made it six straight wins to start her career with an imposing 5.1m win at harness racing headquarters, clocking a slick 1:51:5 mile rate over the 1720m sprint distance.
Stepping up to city-class for the first time, Boxofchocolates could not have looked more at ease.
With regular driver Chris Alford engaged on the Kelvin Barker-trained Urbadboy, Greg Sugars took the reins for the first time on the mare with stunning effect.
She showed plenty of gate speed to claim a quick early lead and was able to easily stave off the only serious challenge in the home straight from Pirate Bay (David and Josh Aiken) to make it six-from-six.
Campbell, a long-time breeder, for whom Boxofchocolates represents his first foray into horse ownership, was again delighted to see the mare handle the step up in grade.
"Kent wasn't pleased with the draw ... she was coming out of six until the emergency came out, so she came out of five," he said.
"It wasn't a real good draw down there and of course most of those horses were all seasoned at headquarters. Four of them had won nine or 10 races.
"When the odds came up, she was about the fifth favourite, so there was obviously some handy horses in the field.
"But she was able to beat them out and lead and managed to finish off the job well.
"She did finish with a flat tyre, but I'm not sure when that exactly happened."
Campbell said a discussion this week with trainer Harpley would reveal whether Boxofchocolates would be spelled or press on for an attempt at a seventh-straight win.
"The good thing about Saturday night was it was a fair step up - in the old language an M0 at headquarters - but it was a good step up for her," he said.
"There's not many races that suit her for the minute at Bendigo or Shepparton and Maryborough as they have shifted all the metropolitan-type races back to Melton.
"So she might have to head back there."
Campbell said the only downside to the mare's six-race winning streak was he and wife Kay had yet to see Boxofchocolates race in person.
"It would be very nice to get to get to see her," he said.
"It's pretty unusual to own one and be paying up for one and not go along and watch.
"But watching at home has been pretty good."
Boxofchocolates has now accounted for six of Harpley's nine training wins this season.
A further two have been delivered by his trotter Belltopperboy, while Phil Monty contributed one.
Read more: Sweet mare's debut is 'one out of the box'
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.
