Trav’s treble led by Listed Lightning finalist

By Isaac Murphy

Monday’s meet at Albion Park had all bases covered, headlined by four 331 metre Listed Lightning heats.

The card also had the 395 and 520 metre sprints, and Travis Elson decided he’d score a win at all three.

Summer’s Queen moving onto Thursday’s Lightning final, while a litter mate broke new ground and an old favourite made a winning return.

There’s not much room for error over the 331-metre dash, but Summer’s Queen showed you can bridge a gap chasing down the slick Statue Sis to win her heat of the Lightning.

“We got a little glimpse into her future last night, she’s going to run further the way she got going late, but at this stage she’s still so competitive over the 331 metres,” Elson said.

“She wanted to go left out of box six which almost got her in a whole lot of trouble at the start, but once Statue Sis spaced the field out, she found some space and really wound up.

“She’s an out-and-out 331 metre bitch Statue Sis, when we’re probably more suited to the 395 and possibly 520 metre trip soon, it was a really good effort to peg her back.”

It’s not often Queensland’s best short coursers get their chance at a feature on a Thursday night and Elson was excited to be involved, albeit against a hell of a field.

“I saw the race from a while out and thought I’m really going to target this with Summer’s Queen and her brother Hope’s Heist, who was terribly unlucky in the last heat but very satisfying to have one through to a Listed final,” he said.

“It’s a field full of talent; Data Base has been doing it over the trip for years, Charming Chaos is probably the strongest bitch in the race, but I’d have to say Dad’s (Bill Elson) bitch Magical Cyndie will be the one to beat if she draws inside - she was very good from the eight last night.

“Summer’s Queen is not the quickest dog in the race but if she can draw inside and holds her spot on the rails, we saw what she can do late last night and she’ll be right in it.”

Elson would like nothing more than to end Summer’s Queen’s short course career with a Black Type win, and the trainer isn’t hiding his aspirations for the eleven-time winner over the 520 trip.

“Summer’s Queen will be headed for the 520 after this assignment, I stepped her sister All Aces up last night and she won in 30.20,” Elson said.

“They’ve always been very similar ability wise, so I expect her to make the jump.

“I was rapt with it, I thought she might start bobbing late but she ran it out well.

“Their litter brother Hope’s King has two wins over the distance as well improving from 30.20 to 29.95 last time out, all signs point to the litter being pretty successful there.”

The Magic Sprite/Lauryn’s Best progeny have been a marvel for Elson, charging through their grades before they even hit their second birthday and Elson said he was just getting started with them.

“They only turned two in early May and between Summer’s Queen, All Aces, Hope’s Heist and Hope’s King they’ve got a combined thirty-eight wins on the board,” he said.

“It’s been incredible to have four all start their careers like that and it’s given them that sense of confidence to make feature finals like Summer’s Queen in the Lightning on Thursday and has given them time to strengthen up before thrown straight to the 520 metres.

“I think you’ll see a bit of them up at Bundaberg over the 460 metres which looks an ideal bridge between the short courses and the 520 metres,” Elson said.

“They all get in as Fifth graders up there, if we do go that route expect them to be very, very competitive.”

If Elson’s night wasn’t good enough with his young litter mates’ double, it was made even better by the long-awaited return of Queensland sprint champion Silver Stunner, the back marker finding a way to win over the 395 first up after 214 days.

“She missed the start a little bit which I half expected anyway and dropped back to midfield on the rail where she continued to pick up ground and we got to see a little flash of her finish in the last fifty metres to the line,” Elson said.

“I was really impressed with the run, she’s been out a long time and she showed me a couple of things, one she’s lost none of her track sense and two she can make up lengths once she gets motoring.”

“I saw enough last night to take her straight back up to the five hundred, she is getting older which I’m aware of, so I’ll space her runs but I think she’s got another really good preparation in her.”