Heathcote's Terry French lands first training treble

An unusually long day at the races turned into one hell of a successful one for the 58-year-old, who landed his first training treble.

It involved a long wait.

French had six starters for the day in total at two venues, starting with Pinnacle Hope, who finished third in race three at Charlton, just after 2pm.

After one more runner at Charlton, Joeys Hangover, the affable trainer collected a four-horse float from his daughter Tayla and set sail for Shepparton, two-and-a-half hours east, with a full load of contenders later in the day.

It was well worth the trip as French notched up a treble in races nine through 11 courtesy of Beach Wreck, Interpretation and Hard Rock Shannon.

The last of his runners for the day, Hard Rock Shannon went around eight hours after his first of the day.

French hinted he had gone to the races confident of finding a winner somewhere, but by no means expecting three.

"I gave them all a bit of a chance. That's why I did the double trip because there was nothing else for them for the rest of the week," he said.

"They all drew pretty favourably and they were all given a bit of a chance. And everything went right.

"Old Bobby, the 10-year-old Pinnacle Hope, hit the line really well at Charlton. It's a bit of a pity he didn't sit behind the winner as he would have been really close too.

"And Joeys Hangover went okay. That was his first run back for a while.

"He's had a bit of a crook back, but he did all he had to do."

French's treble was the standout performance on a big day for Bendigo region participants at Charlton and Shepparton.

Trainers Greg Norman, Jack Sullivan and Mark Thompson and drivers Tayla French, Ryan Sanderson and Ellen Tormey all notched up wins at Charlton, while trainers Julie Douglas and Chris Angove and drivers French and Alex Ashwood with a double all enjoyed success at Shepparton.

With eight horses currently in work at Heathcote, exactly three quarters of French's team saw action on Wednesday.

Nearing the end of his career, the 10-year-old Hard Rock Shannon - driven by Terry's daughter Tayla - won for the 24th time in 211 starts.

The much-loved son of Rock N Roll Heaven has been placed a further 41 times for $124,382 in stakes earnings.

Wednesday night's win was his first in 14 starts since his last victory at Bendigo on October 5 last year.

His stablemate Beach Wreck boosted his career record to eight wins and 16 placings for earnings of $50,980.

French identified the pacing mare Interpretation, who won for the third time in 33 starts, as the horse with the greatest upside of Wednesday's batch of winners.

"She's only a four-year-old and would definitely be the one going forward for me," he said.

"Beach Wreck is eight and old Rocky (Hard Rock Shannon) is 10.

"Rocky is just about retired and he nearly went (Wednesday) night. He's going to one of the girls, who is a clerk of the course up at Shepparton, who'll take him.

"But the way he went (Wednesday) night, there's probably one more (win) in him and then we'll say goodbye."

Beach Wreck and Interpretation were driven by Alex Ashwood, who made it back-to-back doubles following a pair of driving wins at Mildura on Tuesday night.

Driven by Tayla, the stable's other runner at Shepparton, Playnice finished a close third behind Interpretation.

Following 17 training wins last season, French is nearly a third of the way to eclipsing last year's tally, with five in less than two months.

He could not be happier with his team's start to 2023.

"You've got to have these sorts of days every now and then. It keeps you interested," French said.

"And it was enjoyable.

"Getting home at midnight after leaving at 9am in the morning wasn't so much enjoyable, but for a long day, it was all worthwhile."

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