Century of wins beckons

THE former Queensland warhorse Destreos at last has the chance to register his 100th win when he takes on a handy field of open class pacers in the Governor’s Cup over 2090m in Hobart on Sunday night.

Destreos was poised to break the elusive century in January, but he was stood down from racing when a swab analysis from a previous start, when he was unplaced, showed a higher than legal level of cobalt in the swab sample.

But Destreos last week was given the all clear to race and, despite him not having raced for two months, his trainer Ken Rattray is quietly confident the 14-year-old can reach the milestone.

“I am very happy with how [Destreos] has been working and he has drawn well in gate two, so we are hoping this will give him his 100th win,” Rattray said.

Rattray has arranged for Queensland driver Kelli Daw- son to make the trip to Hobart to partner Destreos on Sunday night. Dawson had a long association with the gelding in her home state, where she drove him in all but 36 of his races from November 2010 until Destreos left Queensland in August last year.

“Kelli has been such an integral part of the horse’s career that I thought it would be fitting that she come down and drive him for what we hope will be a very special win,” Rattray said. “But win or lose I’m sure Kelli will appreciate being reunited with the horse who helped her to carve a career in the game.”

Destreos is attempting to become only the third horse in Australian harness racing history to register 100 wins.

The great Paleface Adios achieved the feat in 1980 and went on to win another eight races, while Cane Smoke won 120 races and raced until he was 15.

While Rattray is focused on his stable star finally reaching the milestone, he’s still anxious about the pending inquiry into the positive swab.

“It has been an incredibly stressful time for all of us asso- ciated with the horse,” Rattray said. “I can’t go into details because the inquiry is pending, but at least the ban has been lifted and that came about by me applying to have it lifted and insisting a swab be taken from the horse to get that all-clear.

“I am trying to just stay focused on the horse, but the charge is a huge distraction.”

Destreos has drawn gate two in Sunday night’s race and Rattray said that should enable his stable star to lead.

“If he happens to find the front then he will be very hard to run down, but it is a good field and winning won’t be easy,” he said.

Destreos is lining up for start 446, with his record of 99 wins and 139 minor placings for $807,683 in stakes enough to earn him legend status.