Acacia Ridge is one of the most celebrated Trotters Tontine winners in recent memory
What do the more-than-handy trotters Acacia Ridge, Noopy Kiosk, Armed Guard, Master Maori, Melpark Sunrise & Beleva have in common ?
Answer: Each is listed on the honour roll of past winners of the Tontine Trotters Series Final. This sextet of squaregaiters collectively notched up 132 career victories and earned in excess of $1.2 million in stakemoney.
The Decron Hoof Care Trotters Tontine Series (T0+) kicks off on Saturday night at Terang with a $7000 standing start heat, then continues at Stawell on Feb. 20th with the leading qualifiers to contest the $20,000 Final at Ballarat on Friday 25th.
Series sponsor Merv Butterworth, fresh from a Group 3 Petstock 4YO Bonanza victory at Melton last Saturday night with The Phantom, has two kiwi-bred trotters, Easton Quickfeet and Knapdale Girl engaged in the Terang heat .
The 5yo mares are making their first appearance on Aussie soil for guru Great Wesern trainer Peter Manning and will be driven by Daryl Douglas and Kerryn Manning respectively.
However, both will need to be at the top of their game to match the classy 4yo’s Lightning Joy and Chateau De Ville along with last season’s Tontine champ, Bargain Basement which resumes from a spell on the back of a couple of sound recent trials at Bendigo.
The Tontine series was the brainchild of John Fladgate, then President of the Hamilton HRC. The South West Zone Clubs launched the pacing series in 1981 and four years later added the trotting contest.
The term tontine refers to a financial scheme in which dividends from an initial pooled investment are progressively increased as investors are eliminated (at death) with the entire fund going to the lucky last survivor.
