Sport
30 October, 2023
Major upset headlines exciting Redwood Carnival
While the winner of the Redwood Carnival’s feature race was Not As Promised, for the Maryborough Harness Racing Club, everything went as promised. A good crowd made their way to the Maryborough Harness Racing Complex throughout a terrific weekend...
While the winner of the Redwood Carnival’s feature race was Not As Promised, for the Maryborough Harness Racing Club, everything went as promised.
A good crowd made their way to the Maryborough Harness Racing Complex throughout a terrific weekend of racing, with excellent conditions greeting punters, drivers and horses alike on Friday and Sunday for 21 high-octane races.
The 2690 m Haras des Trotteurs Victoria Trotters Derby Final, in Sunday’s eighth race, provided a monumental upset, with an incredible finish between $41 outsider Not As Promised, driven by Nathan Dawson, and $151 dollar hope Prince Of Rock, driven by Havelock driver Tina Ridas, forming one of the most unlikely quinellas in the race’s history.
However, Not As Promised was able to hold on by a short half head, giving the Queensland-based horse a memorable success.
The Locomotive, second favourite for the event and driven by reigning Trotters Derby winner Nathan Jack, finished third after a luckless run, having been trapped on the inside pegs.
Dawson came into the event in blistering form, having won the Australian Drivers’ Championship last week in Launceston, and expertly picked his moments to give Not As Promised the opportunity to lead when it mattered most.
The horse is trained by Brisbane-based Graham Dwyer.
Speaking to TrotsVision, Dawson said it was a surprise to see many of the better-backed chances, such as favourite Lovemeto and The Locomotive, stuck on the inside, and made a brave bid to clear out from the back of the field to hit the front midway through.
“I didn’t really see it playing out that way, but a lot of the good ones were tucked away along the pegs. So I made the most of that, and if I was good enough so be it,” he said.
“I wasn’t worried about the trip, it was just about getting a good run and it worked out well for us.”
Meantime, the 2190 m Redwood Classic, in race six, was a much more rudimentary affair, with short-priced favourite High Step leading the way throughout from the standing start to give driver Greg Sugars his second consecutive success in the race, as well as a third in four years.
Nordic Reign was second, trailing by eight metres, while Link In Bio finished in third.
It was also a nice piece of history for the New Zealand-based filly, having also been a second consecutive mother-daughter combination that had won the race.
High Step’s dam, High Gait, was previously the champion of the event, winning as a similarly short-priced favourite in 2015, following in the footsteps of Cognati’s win last year, which had been dammed by Elusive Charm, the 2009 winner.
Incidentally, for joint trainer Mark Purdon, he was involved in both High Step and High Gait’s wins, having driven High Gait to victory in 2015, while training High Step this year alongside Nathan Purdon.
Speaking to TrotsVision, Sugars said it was a matter of ensuring High Step was disciplined throughout the race to ensure the duo jackpotted in the historic event.
“The Redwood is usually won by the horse with the best manners and the most talent, and this year I was pretty confident that I had the horse with both,” he said.
Elsewhere on a successful edition of the Redwood Carnival, The Fiery Sunset took the first race of the day in the John Ashby Memorial, Phoenix Red took the two-year-old maiden trot, Mitchell Wrap won race three, the Ralph Ford Memorial, Shez Bella made good use of the favourite tag to win the Aldebaran Park Gold Bracelet, as did Aldebaran Bera, who won the Matchmaker Mile in race five.
Im Ready Jet took out the free for all in race seven in a thrilling finish, Majestic Connies won the Norm McVitty Memorial, Hadtobeharry won the John Slack Memorial and Buslin Brody finished the carnival with a strong win in the Alf Simons Memorial Trot.