Spidergirl wins at Melton Tabcorp Park.
Spidergirl was sublime winning last night’s Empire Stallions Vicbred Super Series 4YO mares’ trotting heat, putting her adversaries on notice with a track record run.
The David Aiken-trained daughter of Yankee Spider sat in the breeze outside Maori Time as they opened the last mile with two 30-second quarters.
Down the back it was clear the winner would come from the leading trio, with Maori Time in front, Paris Pepperell camped on its back and Spidergirl in the breeze.
The third quarter was posted in 29.2 as Chris Alford on Spidergirl said “go”, putting Maori Time to the sword, while Paris Pepperell could not have asked for a better chance to run down the eventual winner but still had to settle for second.
Spidergirl finished off in 29.6, posting a record-breaking mile rate of 1:57.8, bettering the previous 2240m mobile trot mark set in 2011 by Miss Warbucks.
Paris Pepperell was 10.5m off the winner, while Maori Time was a further 13.5m behind in third place.
The win was one of four successes for Alford last night, the champion reinsman also guiding Koten Blosem Lombo to victory in the Bendigo Bank Pace, and taking out the final two Super Series heats of the night aboard Lennytheshark and Blitzthemcalder.
Billed as a match race between Aiken’s brilliant pacer Lennytheshark and Emma Stewart-trained multiple Group 1 winner Guaranteed, the Empire Stallions Vicbred Super Series 4YO entires’ and geldings’ second heat didn’t go 100 per cent to script.
Instead of Lenny and Guaranteed fighting out the finish, John Nicholson-trained Ginger Bliss finished second after pinging away from gate seven to lead first-up over the 2240m journey.
Ginger Bliss was just 1.9m off Lennytheshark at the finish, while Guaranteed was almost 9m away in third place.
Lennytheshark took the lead off Ginger Bliss early, relegating Guaranteed and Gavin Lang three back along the pegs.
Alford dictated terms up front before upping the ante approaching the home bend to record a last half-mile of 56.5 after a fourth quarter of 26.3.
The winner’s mile rate was 1:58.4.
Sapphire Swayze ran fourth, while Boyz Torque was a further 10m behind him in fifth position.
The 4YO trotting entires’ and geldings’ heat was taken out by highly talented Blitzthemcalder from the Craig Demmler stable.
Blitzthemcalder hustled through along the inside from its gate two draw early and held off fast-finishing New South Wales trotter Vincennes in the home straight for a 1.1m win.
Basil Knight was 13.3m off the winner in third place, while Steal A Sixpence made up many lengths late to run fourth.
The winner’s mile rate was 2:00.6.
