Trainer Emma Stewart has her stable absolutely firing at the moment.
Emma Stewart is undoubtedly Victoria’s in-form trainer and her recent strike rate is phenomenal.
Stewart has lined up 18 starters this season for 10 winners, including five at the weekend.
The Smythes Creek trainer trekked north on Saturday night for the Tooleybuc Sporting Club Swan Hill Pacing Cup meeting where she collected the feature race with five-year-old Guaranteed.
Stewart also snared three other winners on the program, with Teixeira, Celebrity Lass and Goodtime Bobby all victorious.
On Friday night at Tabcorp Park Melton Stewart’s exciting six-year-old Philadelphia Man returned from a spell of two years and four months and blitzed its rivals in the Empire Stallions Vicbred Platinum Pace.
The son of Art Major/My Liberty Belle looked awesome in rating 1:53.4 to beat Jilliby Master by 7.8 metres.
Star reinsman Gavin Lang drove the bulk of Stewart’s winners at the weekend, including Guaranteed and Philadelphia Man, to finish with six winners – five at Swan Hill alone.
Brent Lilley and Rodney Petroff combined to take out the Swan Hill Trotters Cup with seven-year-old Love You/Nobes Hanover horse Kvintet Avenger, which scored by 2.7 metres over Wildenstein in the 2790-metre contest.
The two feature races at Melton on Friday night went to short-priced favourites, with Maximan winning easily in the VHRSC Classic for husband and wife trainer/driver team Andy and Kate Gath (paying $1.20) and eight-year-old rig My High Expectations saluting in the R C Freestone Trotters Cup for trainer/driver David Aiken.
It was the second leg of a running double for Aiken, who also prepared Wolfpack to win Race 7 at Melton with son Joshua in the sulky.
Racing returns to Melton this Friday night, while the weekend’s feature meeting will be at Kilmore on Sunday.
The rich Kilmore Pacing Cup will be the main race, the winner of that event exempt from ballot for the $400,000 A G Hunter Cup, while the Popular Alm Sprint is always a highlight on the big program.
