Catch up on the week's harness racing action in our weekly review, thanks to Darren Clayton.
THE GOOD
Up until three years ago, hobby trainer Steve Coombs had three horses that had each won five races under his name as a trainer.
One To Tango, Shadow Hunter and Tildalyn all reached the benchmark for most wins in the Coombs stable, reaching five victories.
That was until Whata Challenge and Aqua Cruiser joined the Peak Crossing stables of Coombs.
Aqua Cruiser is now the stand out for Coombs, having made it an even dozen victories with his latest win on Friday night when driven to success by Adam Richardson.
Starting from the second line over the 2138 metre journey, Richardson had the gelding moving with one mile left to travel, moving forward to sit outside the leader Major Tralee.
With the first two quarters of the last mile appearing in 30.1 and 29.9 seconds, the even tempo continued down the back straight on the final occasion and with 500 metres to travel, Aqua Cruiser had hit the front.
Tobefairtoyou and Mat Neilson had sat in the one-by-one trail and Neilson sent his filly forward to chase Aqua Cruiser.
Pulling clear of the remainder of the field from the 300 metre mark, it looked set to be a two-horse showdown to the wire, with Tobefairtoyou gaining the upper-hand turning for home and edging her way to the front.
Under the urgings of Richardson, 11-year-old veteran Aqua Cruiser was not done with, rallying strongly in the stretch to the vigorous driving, fighting hard with a strong will to win.
Poking the nose back in front, Aqua Cruiser re-established the lead to post a 2.5 metre winning margin.
“Aqua Cruiser’s lifting, he’s lifting, he’s lifting, climbs off the canvas,” Chris Barsby called as the veteran son of Changeover rallied to defeat the three-year-old filly that looked to have his measure.
The win was the 12th success that Aqua Cruiser and Steve Coombs have enjoyed together, with the 11-year-old having now won three races this season.
While Coombs' other horse in his small two-horse team is yet to win a race this season, Whata Challenge has placed in two of six races this term.
Now a 10-year-old, Whata Challenge is the winner of eight races in Coombs silks of blue, yellow stars, yellow sleeves, red rose, sitting a closer third in career earnings behind One To Tango.
THE BAD
Currently leading the Queensland and national drivers premierships, Angus Garrard was slapped with a seven-day suspension on Friday night.
Opting to take the time immediately will allow Garrard to be back for this Saturday night at Menangle to partner Soap Opera for Darren Weeks in a heat of the New South Wales Oaks.
Having remained suspension free for a long period, the seven days has left the door ajar for Nathan Dawson and Pete McMullen and who are currently second and third in the state premiership, respectively.
While Garrard was unable to add to his 76 winners on Friday night, Dawson claimed a winning double for trainer Lola Weidemann with wins aboard Gracenava and Rocco Variety.
On Saturday night, last season’s champion driver added another to his 2024 tally with Adelle winning the last race in worsening conditions as the rain fell heavily, severely affecting the Albion Park surface.
Ending the week on 71 wins for the season, Dawson holds a four-point lead over Pete McMullen.
McMullen went winless on Saturday night but finished the week at Redcliffe with a driving treble on Sunday night to pull back the margin to second.
Sunday’s treble came for three different drivers, claiming success for Peter Greig aboard Royal Princess, David Rodger on Batman Bart and Matty Clayton with Tinsel Tiara.
Garrard, Dawson and McMullen are well clear in the title race, with fourth-placed Leonard Cain (41 winners) 26 wins behind McMullen, holding a one-win advantage over Brendan Barnes who rounds out the top five.
THE WILDCARD
Queensland-trained horses had success in New South Wales in the past week with a winner from each gait saluting at Menangle.
On Saturday night, Ryan Veivers took his mare Girl From Rosedale south to test her out on the spacious 1400 metre oval and the daughter of Hurrikane Kingcole did not disappoint.
Taken back in the early stages from the wide gate by Chris Geary, the four-year-old watched the leaders run the opening half in 54.6 seconds.
At the rear of the field and some 25 metres or more from the leader with 600 metres to travel, Geary was able to get a trail into the contest.
As the widest runner swinging for home, Girl From Rosedale knuckled down to chase and showed great acceleration, hitting the front with 100 metres to travel and pulling clear to post a winning margin of 9.2 metres.
Running her own individual last half in 53.28 seconds, Girl From Rosedale stopped the clock in 1.50.8, claiming the ninth win of her career.
On Tuesday, Ajay Volstead secured the second win of his career with victory in a HRNSW Three-Year-Old Trotters Foundation heat.
With Angus Garrard partnering with the colt, from the wide gate they were able to slide into the one out and one back position as race favourite Nordic Reign set the tempo.
Driving patiently, Garrard angled wider in the stretch and Ajay Volstead had the required speed to reel in the leader and pull clear to post a winning margin of 5.3 metres.
A two-time winner from just three career starts, the talented Darren Weeks-trained square gaiter will contest another Foundation heat this Tuesday at Menangle with an eye towards the NSW Trotters Derby on Saturday May 11.
THE MILESTONE
Already one of just three Queensland drivers to claim 3,000 career driving victories, Lola Weidemann was able to bring up a training milestone last Friday night.
Having partnered with so many driving winners with sister Julie over the years, Weidemann now trains with Julie concentrating on working the family farm at Clifton.
That has seen Weidemann's training wins increasing in the past few seasons and in 2023, she was able to bring up a half-century of winners in the last race of the year, eclipsing the 49 set in 2022 and 41 from 2021.
The winners have continued to flow and almost four months into the 2024 term, Weidemann is already over half-way to her total from last season, with a double at 'The Creek' on Friday moving her to 27 for the season.
The second leg of that winning double saw Weidemann reach 500 career training victories with Rocco Variety charging down the centre of the track to score with Nathan Dawson taking the reins.
Dawson was also in the seat for the first leg of the double, guiding Gracenava to victory in the opening race of the night.
It was the eighth career win for the mare, with six of those victories since being prepared by Weidemann, four of those victories at Albion Park, with one each at Marburg and Narrabri.
THIS WEEK
A total of six days on the racing calendar this week and it is vastly different to how a regular week in Queensland harness would look.
The Albion Park racing surface is being remediated which will see the Tuesday race meeting taken to Marburg where nine races will be held.
Redcliffe host Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon fixtures in their two meetings for the week.
Albion Park is scheduled to be back in action Friday night and will follow with the Saturday metropolitan fixture.
Sunday is a standalone grass track meeting is programmed for Kilcoy.
The first two Trot Rods heats of 2024 will be held this Wednesday night at Redcliffe and following the same format as previous years, they will be the first two races of the night.
