Sport
3 June, 2021
Local mare’s win no major surprise
ITZAMAJOR Surprise’s purple patch of form continued last Saturday night, with the Matthew Craven-trained mare saluting at Melton.
ITZAMAJOR Surprise’s purple patch of form continued last Saturday night, with the Matthew Craven-trained mare saluting at Melton.
The five year-old produced a strong performance to register a narrow short neck victory over Would You Mind in the $20,000 DNR Logistics Pace.
The win followed strong runs in her previous six outings, which saw her record a victory at Ballarat, four placings and a top four finish.
Craven said the mare out of Art Major was “doing a really good job”.
“It’s typical of a seasoned mare that when they find form, they tend to be able to hold it,” he said.
“She had a bit of luck because the scratching (of DadNDave) brought her into pole and it should have been the winner.
“That being said she found the front and took the trail nicely positioned behind the leader (Would You Mind) which went terrific and really gave her every opportunity to win.
“She only won by a short margin but in the end that’s all she needed to be winning the race.”
Craven said the victory over 2240 metres was also a good reward for connections given the mare’s potential.
“She always shown she was capable of winning at metro level,” he said.
“For her owners Pat and Tony Coniglio down in Cranbourne who bred her, it’s a really good result and it was very pleasing for us to get the win with her.
“She’ll now find it a bit harder but she’ll still be able to race in similar mares’ race.
“She’s not going to draw as well but she’ll probably just keep poking along in those events.”
Itzamajor Surprise is set to back up this Saturday night in the $20,000 Allied Express Pace at Melton.
Craven said he expected the mare to find this race a little bit tougher this weekend given she had drawn gate six.
Other local horses bound for Melton this Saturday night include fellow Craven pacers Helgart and Crime Writer, Paddy Lee’s trotters A Jewel In The Crown and Elegant Jet and Codi Rauchenberger’s Honey Bourbon.
Meanwhile, Lamandier also found the winners circle last week, with the colt winning a three year-old pace at Horsham.
Craven was pleased with his pacer’s performance after it was stood down from racing after choking down in its previous start.
“He was coming off a run at Bendigo in the pacing gold heats where he was too keen and choked down which wasn’t ideal,” he said.
“He subsequently had to trial to go back to the races and while he was able to do that and trial nicely there was a still a question on him.
“He was really well behaved at Horsham and we were really pleased with him because he’s a colt we have a really high opinion of and he’s always shown well above-average ability.”
Craven said the win was a small sweetener for the stable given they felt the son of Somebeach Somewhere was capable of running in the Australian Pacing Gold final last Saturday night.
“I think he was more than good enough to run in the final,” he said.
“Bettor Isolate which finished fifth ran a really good race but Lamandier is a horse we’ve always held pretty highly.
“We nearly lost him along the way as a racehorse – he was a warhorse who just wanted to run flat out and pull hard so we had to change a few things with him.
“He was tested early and to his credit he handled that extremely well and won well.”
Craven said Lamandier was likely to next run at Melton Saturday week, with that trip to determine whether the colt undertakes an interstate assignment.