Time is a great asset in harness racing but it is not something that happens that often any more with horses quickly discarded if they don't come up to the mark straight away.
One horse who is showing the wisdom of being given a bit of time is the six year old son of Red River Hanover in Fiery Lustre who chalked up win number six last night at Alexandra Park in the manner of a horse that has a few more wins in store yet.
Lightly raced at three by owner and breeder Ivan Court, Fiery Lustre was busy at four and five picking up a couple of wins and a lot of placings but it is as a six year old that Fiery Lustre has really come into his own.
Four wins and seven placings have helped his bank balance no end and shown once again that patience can be rewarded.
Last night driver Scott Phelan hunted Fiery Lustre forward from barrier seven and he grabbed the lead after 300 metres.
Scott kept the tempo in front very solid and it was obvious a long way out that Fiery Lustre had them in trouble.
Given a bit more rein at the 400 metres mark, Fiery Lustre quickly put paid to the competition and ran away and hid with the official winning margin being 7 1/4 lengths.
Fiery Lustre paced the 2700 metres in a smart 3:22, a mile rate of 2:00.4 with closing sectionals of 57.5 and 28.5.
Driver Scott Phelan has a bit of time for Fiery Lustre.
" He is a lovely old horse to do anything with."
" He gives you 110% on racenight and has a nice turn of speed so he is pretty versatile."
" Last night I thought he was the best horse in the race so I drove him like that and it turned out I was right."
" He has actually been on the market but I think the Red River Hanover scares people off him but he doesn't know what he is by."
"He is more than a fair horse which his record shows," Scott said.
Fiery Lustre is in career best form at the moment and if not sold would appear to have a few more wins in him yet.
Harnesslink Media