Two northern stables went on an emotional rollercoaster ride at Alexandra Park last Friday.
Training partners John and Josh Dickie and emerging horseman Jeremy Young both started the day losing the services of the stable stars for the meantime, but finished it with Alexandra Park wins.
And in Young’s case he completed a double, capping a great start to summer on the track.
Off the track things weren’t so perfect for Young, with stable star Brydon Ideal forced out out of a five-horse race on Friday night with a leg problem on the morning of the race.
To make matters worse, the way leader Strike The Gold spread the field out in the feature pace, if Brydon Ideal had sat in the trail as expected he would have been hugely hard to beat.
Young, who only has six racehorses in work, got two helpings of compensation though as first American Empress and then Circus Boy won.
“Things are going well and to get a double at The Park is great,” says Young.
The Dickie stable won one of the better races on the night with Motown, who was odds-on after the withdrawal with injury of Star Galleria.
That enabled Motown to the find the front and while he didn’t look razor sharp, he was still too good for Killer Queen by a head.
Earlier though Josh Dickie revealed that Great Southern Star trotting hero Speeding Spur won’t be back to defend that title in February.
“He has come up well but Dad has decided he doesn’t want to rush him,” explained Dickie.
“He is still only five and we could rush him back to have him ready for Melbourne but that may not be the best thing for him.
“So he will be aimed at the NZ Trotting Champs in April and then the Anzac Cup and the Rowe Cup.
“He is a horse of a lifetime for us so we are taking the attitude if we look after him, he will look after us.”
Michael Guerin