David and Lisa Miles are the new training partnership responsible for Spring Championship aspirant Make A Memory
Monageeta training partnership Lisa and David Miles are set to give Victorian harness enthusiasts their first look at former boom Tasmanian juvenile Make A Memory when he debuts for his new stable in heat one of what appears to be the strongest edition of the Spring Championship in its seven year history at Tabcorp Park, Melton this Saturday evening.
The four-year old son of Canadian sire supreme Mach Three, with the imposing race record of 12 wins and 10 placings from just 25 career outings has drawn inside the back row for his maiden appearance at Melton, and assuming the ultra-smart beginner Coastal can retain the early lead from his pole draw, this could afford the Tasmanian native a cosy run on the peg-line and a legitimate chance of first-up success.
“He’s certainly not fully wound up yet, but it’s the perfect draw for a first-up run”, David Miles enthused of his friendly gate. “We’ll be poking through and he’s got plenty of gate speed so as long as they don’t go too hard he should be thereabouts. When they’re a little bit above average they can often overcome it (lack of fitness).”
Having been a leading force in his own state as two-year-old, Make A Memory enjoyed a consistent, if less spectacular three-year-old year where in his first tests against elite opposition from Victoria in the Tasmanian and Australian Derbies he performed well without setting the world on fire, beaten in both events by around 10 metres.
Losing to horses with the quality of Village of Dreams and Garnet River is no disgrace however and the honest sixth and seventh placings Make A Memory recorded in those events has fortified rather than compromised any belief Miles had about his ability to be competitive in Victoria’s better races.
“He’ll make the grade over here”, Miles said, “It will be interesting to see how his Mach Three side comes out as he already seems as mature as a six-year-old at four, but he’s got a high cruising speed and all things being equal he’ll be a Metropolitan class horse.”
“We’ve had him for ten or twelve weeks and he’s a good horse… you don’t win 12 from 25 and $95,000 for nothing. Hopefully he will improve through this series and be around the mark in the final.”
The $25,000 Spring Championship series, to be run at Tabcorp Park for the first time, features quality runners in all of the four heats to be run on the program, with Make A Memory’s most conspicuous rivals in heat one being two former New Zealander’s in the Lance Justice trained Coastal and Tony Peacock’s rising stayer Sterlish.
Peacock is well represented in another of the Championship preliminaries with pacy gelding Mister GNP engaged in heat three, whilst the remaining heats are headlined by Graeme Lang trained Tontine winner Jaccka Sandy and Geoff Webster’s impressive son of Red River Hanover, Mister Zion.
Make A Memory will leave the mobile in the first event from Tabcorp Park on Saturday night at 6.30pm on a nine race program which will see the 32nd edition of the Chris Howe Trotters Cup featuring boom squaregaiter Heyzeal.
