Queenslander Alistair Barnes is riding the crest of a wave at the moment, courtesy of a former Kiwi pacer destined for big things in harness racing.
Barnes, a harness racing trainer-driver based at Marburg, admitted he is still “pinching himself” after watching his pacer Lincoln Road post his fifth consecutive win at Albion Park on Tuesday afternoon.
“When I flew over to New Zealand to drive the horse he felt like a nice type, but he’s absolutely blossomed here after taking a little time to settle in,” he said.
Lincoln Road (Lincoln Royal-Tania Tandias) is raced by newcomers to the sport in Cesare and Maria Di Gregorio, of Melbourne.
It was a chance meeting while holidaying in Fiji that brought Barnes, his partner Cassie Saunders and the Di Gregorios together.
“We met at a resort and Cesare and his grandson Dion were both keen to go on a deep-sea fishing trip – something that we had also wanted to do,” Barnes said.
“Anyway, it was a complete disaster. It was blowing a gale, with big waves and rough seas. We didn’t catch a thing and even worse, Cassie got horribly sea sick,” he said.
“On our return, the boat owner couldn’t go too close to the beach, so he dropped us all off in waist deep water and we had to battle along to eventually get back to the resort.
“That was when we struck up a friendship. Cesare told us he had always wanted to own and race some horses but didn’t know how to get involved.”
The new partnership had some fun with one of their first horses in Bet Im Special who has earnt around $14,000 and were then lucky enough to get onto Lincoln Road as part of a $60,000 deal including Auckland winner, Miss Blue Glory.
Barnes said he has high hopes for Lincoln Road who he described as “the complete package”.
“He is so versatile, and this combined with his unbelievable will to win makes him a bit special,” he said.
“I have no doubts whatsoever that he’s going to go places.”
The purple patch of winning form kicked off at Redcliffe on December 20 and four impressive victories at Albion Park have followed for the son of Lincoln Royal.
Lincoln Road in full flight winning the Egmont Park Stud Pace at Albion Park on Tuesday afternoon
Lincoln Royal was himself no slouch on the racetrack, competing under the name of Sir Lincoln (he was renamed in Australia to Lincoln Royal). He won the Group One Auckland Cup in early 2012 and finished his career with 21 wins and 15 placings for over $660,000 from 57 starts. Sir Lincoln is by Mach Three, the sire of other notables in Auckland Reactor, Somebeachsomewhere and Fly Like An Eagle.
In the breeding barn, Lincoln Royal has so far had 134 three and four-year-olds in NZ for 30 winners ($413,241), while in Australia he has 22 progeny on the ground for seven winners ($74,899). Two of his offspring in Aramiss and Abraham have been exported to North America with Aramiss having won nine for $83,318 and paced 1.53-1 on the half mile Yonkers Raceway.
Barnes has been involved in harness racing for over 25 years but said nowadays he was happy to leave talented reinsmen sons Hayden and Brendan doing the bulk of the stable driving.
“At the moment Hayden gets most of the drives, but if he’s unavailable Brendan, who is with Jack Butler at Logan Village, is next, and then it’s me – but only as a last resort,” he said laughing.
But Barnes snr is probably playing down his capabilities as over the years he’s landed more than a few long shots, courtesy of some heady drives.
“I suppose I learnt a bit when working in the USA and Canada, but I’m more than happy to be on the sidelines cheering for the boys,” he said.
The Barnes team, with 17 in work at present, is prepared on a 70-acre property.
“It’s a family affair with Cassie, Hayden and myself doing the training part. Cassie’s mum Gayle cleans the boxes, does the waters and all the other jobs that come with having a big team,” Barnes said.
While he is excited by the potential of a 2yo Auckland Reactor filly related to smart Victorian based pacer Lochinvar Art (seven wins), and a 3yo, also sired by Auckland Reactor, and related to former top-liner Roman Ruler (14 wins from 34 starts), Barnes has another NZ trip in the pipeline.
“Yes, I’m going back as soon as possible to try out a few more—-another one like Lincoln Road would be brilliant!”
Terry Gange
NewsAlert PR Mildura