Warm hearts at Ararat meet
While the weather was chilly there were warm hearts galore at R. T. White Raceway on Tuesday night when Ararat club hosted its super-successful race meeting, raising money for the Jane Mcgrath Foundation and community awareness of breast cancer.
No doubt the Taylor family of Concongella was oblivious to the cold air as its five-year-old mare Fiftyshades Cresco notched up her maiden victory in the Early Detection Saves Lives Pace with Grant Campbell in the sulky.
The grey enjoyed a cosy trip throughout the 1790-metre journey on the back of Cullectngo – Jackie Barker – and made use of the sprint lane to snatch victory on the line in a rate of 2:03.6.
Armstrong trainer-driver Jason Ainsworth also landed in the Ararat winners circle when sixyear-old gelding Flaming Lucky scored in the Flora Is Sending Hope Pace.
Awkwardly placed three back of the markers at the bell, Ainsworth found clear air with 300 metres to go and Flaming Lucky dashed home in 29.1 seconds to score untouched by seven metres in a rate of 2:00.8 for the 1790-metre trip.
Since being purchased by Natasha Raven and trained by her partner Jason, the gelded son of
Courage Under Fire, NZ, has been a model of consistency with four wins and eight minors from 26 starts.
Lightly raced five-year-old gelding Demonstrator led from go to whoa in the Show You Care – Be Aware Pace with Jason Lee in the sulky for trainer Peter Manning. The gelded son of Art Major, USA, is raced by his breeders the Cormack family and had four unsuccessful starts in South Australia as a two-year-old in 2018.
Some 29 months later, Demonstrator returned to the racetrack in Manning’s colours and after taking a good while to rebuild fitness, has now clocked up three wins and three minors from his past 14 starts.
Manning has had a long association with the Cormack family and enjoyed great success with Demonstrator’s grand-dam Baroda Belle, 11 wins, and her first foal Ananz, 30 wins and $527,884.
In a fitting finale to Ararat’s great night, Aaron Dunn and Kerryn Manning fought out the finish of the $7000 Bellman Stable-real Men Wear Pink Pants Pace with Dunn’s charge Sporty Azz proving too strong for Revitalize over the final stages of the 2195-metre contest.
Dunn bred Sporty Azz from his former handy performer Madazhell, seven wins, with the Ararat victory the four-year-old bay’s fifth from 32 outings.
Harness racing in the district returns to Horsham on Friday, May 28, with an eight-event program sponsored by Victorian Harness Racing Club.
All races on the card will carry a $1500 cash owner bonus and $500 cash trainer bonus for eligible horses and individual members of the VHRC.
Nominations for the meeting close with Harness Racing Victoria at noon on Monday.