The patience of wily Wieland to pay off
THE secret to preparing a winner in the annual Pallarenda Stakes is patience and time, says veteran Cairns trainer Fred Wieland.
A handful of FNQ stables make the trip south to Cluden Park on Saturday for the opening event of the twoyear-old feature season, with the two Pallarenda Stakes — a fillies edition and a colts and geldings event — both worth $32,500.
Local trainers Sharlee D’Avila, Ralph Baker and Wieland all won trials with their babies up at Tolga recently and will head to Townsville with confidence.
For the Cannon Parkbased Wieland, the annual Pallarenda is a race he has had great success in over the journey, winning it a handful of times.
Gallopers such as Element Of Chance and Jacob’s Pride, among several others, have delivered two-year-old spoils for Wieland and his loyal connections and they are optimistic Eternal Bean and Summer Of Glory can do the same in 2020.
They were broken in at Warwick and have since been educated in FNQ.
“Two-year-olds, you just have to take your time with them,” Wieland said when asked why his yard had enjoyed such success in the race over the years.
“You cannot find out if they can gallop within a month, you have to give them plenty of time.
“If you want to find out if they are any good within a month, then you virtually will not have them for very long.
“I suppose luck always has a bit to do with it.”
In the recent trials, Eternal Bean was the most impressive of Wieland’s two, winning the fillies heat by 1 ½ lengths, while Summer Of Glory was six lengths behind the winner in the colts and geldings heat over 900m.
While conceding twoyear-olds’ first few starts can be a raffle, the Cairns Cupwinning trainer says he is not taking the pair to Cluden Park for a look around, they have improved since their trials and should be competitive.
“They are going good enough to take them to Townsville, let’s put it that way,” Wieland said.
“With a bit more practice and education, they are going well.”
Summer Of Glory is related to Rocket To Glory, who was trained by Mackay’s John Manzelmann and won 14 races for $851,075 in prizemoney before retiring in late 2016.
Wieland stable hoop Emily Cass will ride Eternal Bean on Saturday.
Baker’s Keys Please will be hard to beat in the fillies’ race as she won her recent trial by six lengths in a dominant display.
Fellow FNQ trainers Roy Chillemi, Stefanie Horner and Alex Malliff will also have first-starters go around in Townsville.