Josephine Jones was a Tabcorp Park Melton winner back in September last year.
The Lyn McPherson Breed For Speed Memorial Gold Series will play an integral part of Pryde’s EasiFeed Great Southern Star night and one horse who could yet be in either Group 1 final is Josephine Jones.
The richly talented trotter from Ballan is one of the most inexperienced horses going into Saturday night’s heat of the Breed For Speed Gold Series, but her talent may well negate that.
Anna Farrell trains and drives the talented mare and the story couldn’t get much better for the family.
With just one horse in work, the Farrell’s breed from the same mare each year.
“They are the only horses we train and it’s just happened to turn out that every second horse out of Emily Eden has been fairly handy,” Anna Farrell said.
“She’s definitely been the best of them but it funny because the alternate foals are pretty bad but we’ve finally got the mare in foal again, it took a few years, but this will be the second foal after Josephine Jones.”
The endearing story of a small town trotting family with a single horse who has all the attributes of a potential star is hard not to love.
And with the granddaddy of them all, the Pryde’s EasiFeed Great Southern Star, less than a month away, it’s hard for connections to take their eyes off squaregaiting’s richest southern hemisphere prize.
But Farrell is a realist. Unconvinced about whether Josephine Jones is best suited to a mile in the elite company, she will first dip her toe in Group 1 company next week.
“We think about the Great Southern Star but I really don’t think she’s a miler. She just has so much stamina but my husband Paul wants to go to the Grand Prix next week so she’s been nominated for that,” she said.
First however, she will stake her claim for a place in the Breed For Speed Gold Series final and from barrier one, her trainer/driver will be careful to time her run to the release point to perfection.
“I’m not sure if barrier one will suit her, I’ll have to time it right behind the mobile because I don’t want to get up there to early and be going slowly because she will start to overrace,” Farrell said.
And in a race with multiple Group 1 winners, the veteran of just 10 starts will need to be at her very best to continue her charge towards the feature squaregaiting races in the next three weeks.
Harness Racing Victoria form expert Jason Bonnington rates Josephine Jones a $12 chance to topple her rivals on Saturday night.
For more information on the Pryde’s EasiFeed Great Southern Star you can visit the website at www.greatsouthernstar.com.au.
