TWO of Australia’s top Inter Dominion prospects, Colt Thirty One and McLovin, remain on target for Auckland raids.
Star trotter McLovin seems to be over his untimely bout of the “thumps” in yesterday’s (Friday) Dominion Trot at Addington and will be flown from Christchurch to Auckland tomorrow (Sunday).
“He seems fine. We jogged him this morning and all went well,” trainer Andy Gath said. “Kate (Gath, co-trainer and driver) and I will go to Auckland with him, spend a few days there, work him Wednesday.
“If all goes well Wednesday, we’ll push on to the Inter Dominion otherwise he’ll head home.
“The thumps is something which comes out of the blue and is most often just a one-off thing, so we think he’ll be fine.”
Queensland’s pin-up pacer Colt Thirty One, already a Victoria Cup runner-up this season, resurrected his Inter Dominion hopes with a dominant win in the Group 3 Popular Alm free-for-all at Melton last night (Friday).
Stand-in driver John Caldow took the reins for trainer Grant Dixon and the race turned in his favour when the leader, Wrappers Delight, seemed to choke-down and Colt Thirty One went from having to sit parked to rolling to the front.
There was a lot to like about how he powered down the back in 26.9sec and still finished-off in 27.4 – a 54.3sec last half.
“He needed to come out and win a race like that to convince us about Auckland and he did,” Dixon said.
“I’m at a total loss to explain why he galloped at the start the week before, but the main thing is he bounced-back this week.”
Colt Thirty One is booked on a flight from Melbourne to Auckland on November 23.
“That’s the main reason we left in down in Melbourne after the Victoria Cup for a few races … because it’s much easier getting from Melbourne to Auckland rather than having to get there from Brisbane,” Dixon said.
by Adam Hamilton