Sport
31 July, 2025
Dalvui prepares for a bumper night
THE Terang Harness Racing Club will be back in action on Monday night, giving the community the chance to get along and see some of the region’s brightest young talents.
Terang Harness Racing Club president Chris O’Connor said he believed there would be around seven or eight races held at Dalvui Raceway next Monday, August 4, however the draw was yet to be finalised.
“Dining will be held in the Silks Room on the night, with racing to begin from 5.44pm,” he said.
“There will be free entry at the gate and we’ll have a bookmaker on course.
“Rafferty’s pick five jackpot is also up to $2250, so there will be a good chance for someone to win a nice chunk of change.
“We hope to see everyone get along, it should be a good night of racing.”
Mr O’Connor said getting along to support local races was the best opportunity to see the locally trained horses which are making an impact on the industry.
Among the names finding stride is Sweet Ideal, trained by Camperdown’s Darryl Lawlor, who earned success at Melton over the weekend.
Sweet Ideal has won three of her past six races at Melton over as many weeks, including an impressive victory on Saturday – backing up from a win the week prior.
“We’ve had to go down to Melton because she’s up in that class now,” Lawlor said.
“She’s won three, ran third twice and got checked in one of the other runs – and they’ve all been from pretty bad draws.
“She’s been doing super, finishing off in some pretty sharp quarters so we’re really impressed with her.”
The four-year-old mare has eight wins and four places from 15 starts, earning a reputation as one of the region’s most exciting up-and-comers.
“She’s just got electrifying speed,” Lawlor said.
“In four of her last five runs at Melton she broke 27 in her last quarter despite all these bad barrier draws.
“She’s been able to overcome it all because she’s just got so much speed.”
Sweet Ideal is currently on a break as Lawlor targets one of the state’s bumper races in November.
“There’s a four-year-old VicBred race at the end of the year which will be her ultimate target, so we’re going to set her for that and she’s gone out now for a quick little rest,” he said.
“Everyone wants to be in it – it’s a group one race worth around $100,000 – so if you’ve got a four-year-old it’s what you want to head towards.
“The Lees and Cravens have won it before, so we’re eyeing it to get her ready and hopefully have a pretty big race.”
Lawlor said he was a firm believer local knowledge in both training and genetics was behind the run of success south west trotters were having on the biggest stages.
“You look at the Lees and the Cravens – they’re so passionate about their racing, they’ve got well-bred mares and they go to really well-bred stallions,” he said.
“Myself, I’m a real pedigree-matching buff – I’d rather pedigree-match, I don’t really care about the training, the breeding is the side I love.
“All my horses are homebred and I think you get good results because when you follow the pedigree, I feel the success comes with it.”
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