Dashman's harness examination - February 3

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

'LARRY' BRAVE IN DEFEAT

Leap To Fame may have been beaten, but his effort to finish second to big brother Swayzee was arguably one of the best performances of his career.

Grant Dixon was able squeeze off the inside in the early stages from the inside second line.

However, Cam Hart aboard Swayzee was able to judge it perfectly by circling first and staying in front of Leap To Fame and working around the field to find the front with two laps remaining.

Making a move with one mile remaining, Dixon edged Leap To Fame up to sit parked, although sitting one length off the leader.

In a brutal tempo, the first three quarters of the last mile were recorded in 28.2, 28.1 and 27 seconds, as Leap To Fame loomed on the home bend.

However, Swayzee was in for the fight and Hart was able to get the best from the seven-year-old, holding on for victory by a head.

The Carter Dalgety-driven Republican Party darted through on the passing lane for third.

The 1.51.9 rate for the 2760 metre trip destroyed the track record set by Tiger Tara in the 2019 Hunter Cup, highlighting how brave Leap To Fame was in defeat.

Dixon will likely take Leap To Fame to Cranbourne this Saturday for a defence of his Cranbourne Cup title.

FIRST TEAL WINNER ON THE BOARD

The 2025 Team Teal campaign started on Saturday night with the popular initiative running from February 1 through March 15 each year.

With drivers donning the teal pants nationwide, every winner driven by a female will see money donated to the campaign.

Since its inception, Team Teal has raised an incredible $3,109,351 through the WomenCan Foundation, with a goal set some years back to get the figure to $5 million.

The Team Teal campaign was launched by Duncan McPherson OAM who tragically lost his wife Lyn to ovarian cancer in 2010.

It was Taleah McMullen that was the first Queensland winner in 2025 when she partnered with Studleigh Punter to lead throughout in the fifth race of the night on Saturday. 

Sent hard off the gate, the four-year-old was able to hold off a fast-finishing Borsellino to record victory by the barest possible margin, setting a new personal best rate of 1.53.1 with the victory.

A former Team Teal ambassador, McMullen was the winner of the Invitational Team Teal Cup last year where she partnered with Infinity Beach for trainer Doug Hewitt.

In 2025 the Invitational Team Teal Cup will move to Redcliffe and be held on Wednesday March 12.

WILL BREAKS MAIDEN RANKS

It took longer than he may have originally planned, but Will Rothwell has landed his first driving winner, partnering with Tommy Bligh to score at Redcliffe last Wednesday.

The “younger” identical twin brother of Nathan, it was the 24^th race drive that Will had contested, producing a smart front-running drive to overcome a wide gate with the victory.

Placing on six occasions before the breakthrough win, the opportunities are slowly starting to increase for Will who has been given drives from Donny Smith and Jack Butler in the past week.

The seven-year-old gelding Tommy Bligh holds a special place in the Rothwell stable with the gelding also giving Nathan his first Queensland winner as a driver back in April of 2023.

Owned in partnership by Will and Nathan, the gelding has now won on 11 occasions for the brothers since joining their stable back in 2021 when the pair were based in Victoria.

It is a remarkably unique achievement - a horse being owned, trained and driven by a set of twins.

The brothers have already finished first and second in a race together earlier in January when Nathan drove Cosmic Flyer to victory with Will partnering the second-placed Epic Orion. 

Twins competing on the track in Australian harness racing is rare, with the Rothwells joining the like of Will and Hannah Rixon from New South Wales and the Young brothers from Western Australia - Shane and Kim.

DWYERS NIGHT OUT

Saturday night proved to a momentous evening for the 'Kingslodge Pacing Stables' team, with milestone wins and a training treble for the ‘boss,’ Graham Dwyer.

Luvbite was the first winner of the night, driven by Layne Dwyer who had the six-year-old perfectly positioned behind a hot tempo.

Angling into space with 250 metres to travel, Luvbite was able to post a career best 1.51.4 to continue his consistent form.

The win also gave Graham 900 career training wins.

The youngest of the Dwyer clan was the next to post success, Darcy Dwyer claiming a win in the mini-trots aboard the evergreen Dannelles Dash.

Not As Promised continued on his winning way with victory with regular driver Nathan Dawson taking the reins on the dual Group 1-winner.

Steadily away from the tapes, the gelding was sent forward to take the front with 1700 metres remaining and once in control, Not As Promised was able to extend his Albion Park record to eight wins from nine starts.

In the last race of the night, Layne Dwyer came with a well-timed run aboard Sweet Agenda, the mare shrugging off a luckless three start Tamworth campaign with an impressive 1.54.7 victory.

The winning treble moves Graham Dwyer to the top of the metropolitan trainer’s premiership.

THE WEEK AHEAD

A total of six meetings appear on the calendar this week in Queensland, with three apiece from Redcliffe and Albion Park.

Monday night sets the ball rolling with seven races from 'The Triangle' with eight on the Wednesday night card and then the final meeting from Redcliffe will be a Thursday afternoon fixture.

'The Creek' will conduct nine races on Tuesday, a Friday night meeting before the week concludes with the metropolitan fixture on Saturday night.