2 December, 2003
Cranbourne Harness Racing Club has scored a major coup with Miracle Mile
winner Sokyola set to headline their richest Cup in history this Saturday
night.
The Melton-trained pacer will head to Cranbourne fresh from upstaging
Australasia?s best pacers in the nation?s richest race last Friday night at
Sydney?s Harold Park.
Trainer-driver Lance Justice has elected to tackle the $50,000 Graham
Quarries Cranbourne Pacing Cup in preference to the richer Treuer Memorial in
Bankstown (NSW) on the same night.
?Sokyola won his first feature race, the Garry Rogers Nissan 4YO
Bonanza, at Cranbourne so the place holds special memories for me,? Justice
said.
?It was great, we got such a good reception from the committee, the
crowd, Garry Rogers and everyone involved that night.
?They?re a great club and the committee have always been really nice to
me, that?s why we?re heading to Cranbourne this weekend.
?I actually said to Colin (Croft, owner) that win, lose or draw in the
Miracle Mile, we?d be off to the Cranbourne Cup instead of the Treuer, even
though it?s worth fifty thousand more.
?I feel like Cranbourne is a track that I?ve had a lot of success at and
Sokyola races really well here so I?m happy to be tackling this race instead.
?The horse has pulled up good after the Mile so I?ve got no concerns
backing him up on Saturday night.?
Sokyola has suffered just one defeat in six appearances at Cranbourne,
that coming when fourth off the 20 metre backmark in last season?s Cup when the
event was run under standing start conditions.
Debuting in a new pre-Christmas timeslot and returning to a mobile
start, the 39th Cranbourne Pacing Cup has attracted a stellar field
of pacers from Victoria, New South Wales and New Zealand.
As the official lead-up to the $250,000 SEW-Eurodrive Victoria Cup at
Moonee Valley on 20 December, connections are scrambling for an automatic
ticket into the state?s feature event with a win at Cranbourne.
Collectively the 12 starters and one emergency hand-picked for the Group
2 event have amassed 249 wins and over $3.1 million in stakes.
Sokyola, now the winner of 50 races, will start a clear-cut favourite
after drawing the front line (gate six) in the 2585 metre feature, but it?s far
from a one-act affair.
Kilmore Cup runner-up Franco Heir (gate five), Australian Mare of the
Year Nolarama (gate 10), SEW-Eurodrive Rocket winner Lagoon Lady (gate three),
Kiwi raider Mister D G (gate 12), cult hero Wally Walton (gate four), rising
superstar Unique Icon (gate 11) and local glamour girl Lombo La Fe Fe (gate
eight) will all enter the battle with winning claims.
Surprisingly to some, Justice has earmarked the query runner, New
Zealand pacer Mister D G, as the horse to beat.
?I?d say the hardest to beat will be Mister D G,? he explained.
?He showed a lot of fight when he wasn?t far from us in Queensland in
the winter and I suspect that he?ll only improve now that he?s joined the
Butts.?
Six-year-old Mister D G arrived in Melbourne last night and will make
his official debut for the powerful Tim and Anthony Butt stable at Cranbourne.
Formerly trained by Stephen Doody, Mister D G is a son of former
champion mare and millionairess Blossom Lady who finished third in the 1993
Cranbourne Cup and fourth twelve months later.
Anthony Butt, in the sulky for both of those appearances, returns to
pilot her son.
Clyde trainer Jayne Davies and her partner Noel Alexander have won four
of the past 11 Cups with Golden Reign (1994 & 1997), Knight Rainbow (1195)
and Tailamade Lombo (2000).
They?ll be striving to deliver another hometown victory with former
Australian Juvenile of the Year Lombo La Fe Fe, a winner at 22 of her 32
starts.
The youngest runner in the field at just four years of age, she?ll be
fitter second-up from a minor setback and will be piloted by three-time winner
Chris Alford.
Adding spice to the contest is the presence of New South Wales duo
Daroobalgie (gate seven) and Hexus (gate 13) who both lucked out with the fall
of the marbles.
The field (in barrier order) for the $50,000 Graham Quarries Cranbourne
Pacing Cup (Group 2), to be run at 10pm (AEST) on 6 December, is; (Front Row)
Dreams To Reality, Krayzelburg (Emerg), Lagoon Lady, Wally Walton, Franco Heir,
Sokyola, Daroobalgie (Second Row) Lombo La Fe Fe, Braeside Seel Star, Nolarama,
Unique Icon, Mister D G, Hexus.
