Dashman's harness examination - August 19

Catch up on the week's harness racing action in our weekly review, thanks to Darren Clayton.

THE GOOD

The Trent Dawson-owned, trained and driven For Real Life completed the Triad trilogy on Saturday, winning the four-year-old entires and geldings division to add to his titles won as a two and three-year-old.

Completing the three-peat, the classy entire joined an elite fraternity, becoming just the third male pacer to win all three Triad features.

Aquagold and Colt Thirty One are the only male pacers to have achieved the feat previously.

Sliding across to settle in the one-by-one position as Carter Grant held the front through the opening 500 metres, Dawson moved three-wide and forced his way to the head of the pack with 1400 metres remaining through a lead time of 36.8 seconds.

The first quarter was a strong 28.7 seconds as Free Thinker moved around to get outside the leader as the second split appeared in 29.8 seconds.

Controlling the tempo with a 28.2 second third split, For Real Life looked to have the measure of his opposition, with Regazzo Di Tilly the only runner out of the pack making an impression as he moved up strongly from the rear to run into second.

With enough in the tank to post the closing split in 27.1 seconds, For Real Life had more than seven metres to spare over Regazzo Di Tilly, with Free Thinker gripping on for third, some 25 metres away.

The overall rate of 1.53.3 sliced 0.4 seconds off the race record held by Will The Wizard, with the win taking the record of For Real Life to 15 wins and five minors in his 30 start career, while his earnings are now more than $360,000.

For Real Life debuted in April of 2022 in a maiden two-year-old race.

It was also the first race appearance for the four-year-old mare’s Triad winner Lady Digby, while Rising Sun winner Wisper A Secret also stepped out for the first time in that same race.

After claiming the Queensland two-year-old and three-year-old of the year awards across the past two seasons, it has been a mixed preparation in 2024 for Dawson’s star.

An error at Menangle in the Paleface Adios when trying to qualify for the Chariots of Fire ended that Sydney campaign and saw him freshened before resuming in May.

Winning two of his next three starts, he was then unplaced at his next four starts of the Patrons Purse, Queensland Sun, Rising Sun and The Hayden.

Bouncing back to complete the Triad Trilogy, the four-year-old could be ready to get back to his best, with Dawson ready to get his pride and joy to The Eureka.

THE BAD

Jewel Melody was unable to emulate For Real Life who just one race prior completed a Triad Trilogy, with the mare unplaced behind Lady Digby in the four-year mares Final.

Having won both two and three-year-old titles for fillies in the past two seasons, the Bernie Hewitt-trained mare was looking to claim her own three-peat but faded to fifth after sitting parked for the last 1500 metres.

Lady Digby made the most of her chances in the race, given the perfect trip in behind the speed set by Girl From Rosedale, with Leonard Cain angling to the outside in the stretch, with the daughter of Betting Line closing strongly to arrive for victory.

Setting the speed in front with closing splits of 27.4 and 27.9 seconds, Girl From Rosedale held on for second with Aurora Joy making it a peg line trifecta in grabbing third.

The 1.54.0 rate continued the strong times across the night, setting a new race record for the four-year-old mares, slicing 1.1 seconds off the previous mark set in 2022 by Aunty Bella.

It was the second Group 2 success for trainer Jason Carkeet, following on from his first Triad title in 2023 when preparing Pinnie for victory in the two-year-old trotters Final.

The win also moved Carkeet to within one win of his 100^th training win, Lady Digby having added six wins to that tally.

For driver Leonard Cain, it was his third Group 2 victory, adding to his two Queensland Cups, claimed in 2020 and 2022 and his first Triad success.

THE WILDCARD

Pete McMullen continued his great season in the sulky by adding another Group 1 victory to his name after guiding Rylee Rhayne Bow to victory in the three-year-old fillies QBRED Triad Final for trainer Chantal Turpin.

The win gave the Art Major filly successive Triad victories following her win last season as a two-year-old, partnered on that occasion by Narissa McMullen with Pete in Europe for the World Drivers Championship at the time.

Not only did Rylee Rhayne Bow defend the Triad title, the 2024 result replicated the 2023 two-year-old outcome, with Ever Art again finishing in second place and Majorita Jujon again finishing in third place.

Settled one out and two back through the opening 1200 metres, Pete sent Rylee Rhayne Bow three wide from the 1000 metre mark to apply the pressure to the leader, Reason To Shine.

Under a solid tempo, Rylee Rhayne Bow hit the front at the 400 metre mark and was able to stave off the challenge of Ever Art to claim victory by a head margin.

The winning time of 1.53.1 set a new three-year-old fillies class record for 2138 metres at 'The Creek', shattering the previous mark held by Racy Roxy by 1.4 seconds, and lowering the race record held by Magical Maya by 2.7 seconds.

Bred and owned by long-time Turpin stable client, Ross Patrick, the winner has now won eight races and banked close to $250,000 in earnings.

It was the sixth Group 1 victory for both Turpin and McMullen, with the three-year-old colts and geldings the only Triad trophy missing from the Turpin resume, having now claimed five of the six divisions.

THE MILESTONE

There are very few feature races on the Queensland calendar that have eluded Grant Dixon in his career and on Saturday night another two Group 1 victories were added to his long list of feature wins.

In claiming both divisions of the two-year-old pacing Triads, Dixon was still able to create a new milestone in his career with Triad victories 30 and 31.

Having previously secured 11 driving wins in the two-year-old Triads, the wins of Cool And Classy and Fire Raiser provided Dixon with wins in both divisions in the same season as a driver for the first time.

The feat had been achieved three times previously in the three-year-old divisions by the master horseman and as a trainer in the 2013 two-year-old divisions with Hezarealgem and Charming Allie claiming their respective events, both driven by Mathew Neilson.

There was some symmetry to the double, with Charming Allie the dam of Cool And Classy, both dam and daughter stopping the clock at 1.55.2 to claim the Triad trophy.

Cool And Classy secured her fourth win in just five career starts, highlighted by a sizzling 26.8 second closing quarter in the dictating victory and will now head to the Sunshine Stars Sale Series later in the season.

Fire Raiser claimed a passing lane victory in the colts and geldings Final, darting through off a solid tempo to defeat Thetorque Majority and Our Sweet Delight.

Described by owner Kevin Seymour as “nothing more than a shetland pony” owing to his small stature, size did not matter, with the son of Bettors Delight having plenty of speed in his legs to claim Group 1 success.

Fire Raiser has now won four of his six starts this season, the win taking his earnings beyond $100,000.

EUREKA WATCH

Queensland horses continue to excel in the chase for the last remaining slots in The Eureka, with a few strong performances in the past week.

For Real Life was high in considerations earlier in the season, however a winless Constellations campaign saw him potentially lose favour in the chase for a slot.

His win in the four-year-old Triad Final was a timely win to get his name back in the conversation, while the runner-up, Regazzo Di Tilly was once again big in defeat.

Sectionally, the Daren Garrard-trained four-year-old has been super at his recent starts and once again ran the best sectionals of his opposition, with a closing half of 54.64 seconds and last mile in 1.52.78.

On Friday night, Sure Thing Captain boosted his chances of sneaking a slot with an effortless 11 metre victory, highlighted by a strong last 1200 metres, with a middle half of 56.19 seconds and a last 400 metres of 26.71 seconds. 

Ticking over nicely at home, Wisper A Secret may be forced to head to the Racenet Discovery which was announced last week to press his chances, despite banking more stake money than any other four-year-old in Australia this season.

THIS WEEK

This Sunday the Darling Downs Harness Racing Club will conduct a race meeting.

It will be their first of the season and the first at a new venue.

The meeting will be conducted on the grass at Gatton, with the support of the Lockyer Valley Turf Club, with the DDHRC hopeful that this will be the first in a series of three meetings, alongside Warwick and Toowoomba.

Tuesday at Albion Park will see the running of the QBRED Consolations for two and three-year-old pacers on a nine-race card.

With the Redcliffe lighting upgrades continuing, Wednesday night will be the only meeting this week from the Peninsula, with the Thursday afternoon meeting again transferred to Albion Park.

That will see four meetings for the week at 'The Creek', with a Friday night and Saturday metropolitan fixture making up the four.