Harness racing horse breeder Joe Aquilina is proof that persistence pays off.
Last week one of his horses won the Empire Stallions Home Grown Classic for Three Year-Old Fillies, the breeder’s first Group 1 win in more than 40 years involved in the sport.
Fling About held on to claim the $50,000 race at Tabcorp Park Melton on Friday night, with Joe’s close friend Eddie Conroy in the driver’s seat.
The Group 1 winner is a third generation trotter, with Joe also breeding and racing her grandma, About Square, and her mum, Squaring About, which is in foal alongside her sister in the paddock at Joe and wife Thelma’s Deniliquin property.
The couple moved to the area about a year ago after selling their Melton property and giving away a couple of horses to close friends. One of those was Fling About.
‘‘We sold our property at Melton to a developer and bought a property at Deni (Thelma has a lot of family in the local area),’’ Joe said.
‘‘I gave the horse (Fling About) to Eddie (Conroy) but Eddie had a bad horse accident which almost killed him, so he gave the horse to (trainer) Fred Spiteri on the one condition that he would be the driver.
‘‘You could see how happy Eddie was (with the win) when he punches the air after passing the post. Eddie lost a close family member, Bob Conroy, who’s a legend of the industry, less than a week before the race.
‘‘Eddie and I have been involved in the industry together for close to 20 years, so I was really happy for him. I was pretty happy, too.
‘‘My father was also involved in the industry, even before he came to Australia from Malta.’’
Friday’s win was equally as exciting for Spiteri and Conroy, with Fling About’s thrilling salute their first Metropolitan winner.
The Home Grown Classics were created for horses who have won less than $10,000 in their career, and this was Fling About’s third win in six starts and the best of her career to date.
‘‘I thought I’d done enough when we hit the line but I know (race caller) Dan Mielicki is pretty good in a photo, so I had my ears pricked and when I heard him that’s when there was a bit of relief,’’ driver Conroy said.
‘‘You never want to go in cocky, especially with a three year-old, but aside from being a bit on edge during the pre-race circle, she’s just a lovely trotter and I was hoping that professionalism could be the difference.
‘‘It was my first Metropolitan winner so it was the right way to bring it up. I was talking to a mate … and I just said how surreal it all is.’’
Friday’s race took shape early on with the daughter of Fling It doing just that and spearing across to the fence as the two race favourites made early mistakes.
Conroy was able to control the race through the middle stages before he pinched a march off the back and held the late charge of Angels Breath and Shield Maiden.
The win again proved that anybody can compete on the biggest stage regardless of what level of the industry you are involved in.
‘‘It’s not just the fact that we’ve won a Group 1 race; I’ve been Fred’s (Spiteri) farrier for a long time and we’ve raced horses with Joe before so it means a lot to everyone,’’ Conroy said.
‘‘We usually have horses where there’s not too much to do, you look for a T0 or a T1 the week after you run but I think Freddy (Spiteri) will sit down with the Harness Racer and map out a plan for her now. I think she’ll go for a little break.’’
It’s the incredible story that almost never was.
Conroy was keen to downplay the accident which almost claimed his life just over a year ago.
‘‘I had a horse fall on me when I was riding it and it did some damage to my leg; long story short I ended up with internal bleeding and collapsed,’’ Conroy said.
‘‘I had lost something like eight litres of blood from my body and we only have about nine.
‘‘I ended up in intensive care for three or four days. In one way I was very unlucky and in another way I was incredibly lucky but it’s not something I really dwell on.’’
Conroy made the trip to Deniliquin earlier this week to celebrate the victory with his good mate, and the pair are looking forward to watching their Group 1 winner’s future unfold, and hopefully that of her sibling when it arrives next year.
■ Some of the words provided by Blake Redden from Harness Racing Australia.
By Sam Hall