Catch up on the week's harness racing action in our weekly review, thanks to Darren Clayton.
THE GOOD
Friday afternoon at Albion Park proved a unique day with 10 different trainers and 10 different drivers claiming a win on the 10 race card, an occurrence that is extremely rare.
A total of four of the 10 winners on the card were recorded by Trent Dawson, Grant Dixon, Doug Hewitt and Lola Weidemann, the four all securing victories aboard horses they also train.
Sweetnspicy started the day with victory for trainer Mark Dux, the four-year-old mare winning for driver Mat Neilson, with her second career win also securing connections the QBRED bonus.
Connections of My Ultimate Buddha also secured the second QBRED bonus, the gelding coming with a well-timed run for Doug Hewitt in setting a new career personal best of 1.53.3 with the fifth win of his career.
Torque Writer was one of two father and daughter combinations successful on the day as Chloe Butler guided Torque Writer to victory for Jack Butler, angling the mare clear of the pocket trail to sprint home to an effortless victory.
The other was the win of B Mac C for John and Taleah McMullen, the nine-year-old gelding darting through on the passing lane to claim a narrow victory.
Chantal Turpin and Pete McMullen claimed a training and driving win respectively when Alta Magacian was able to lead throughout for his second win of the season, continuing the successful year for owner Craig Whiteoak.
Teddy Feels Good scored a 1.54.2 win for the new stable, giving a win to the father and son combination of Graham and Layne Dwyer.
Releasing the speed from gate one to Bold Medley Jujon, Layne darted through on the passing lane to arrive in the last stride for the narrowest of victories.
Jagara - a six-year-old gelding - won his first race of the season, charging home in the closing stages for victory, recording a new career best with the 1.53.4 win, providing trainer Ron Sallis and Narissa McMullen with success.
The final winner of the afternoon went to the Lola Weidemann-trained and driven Delightful Rainbow.
Finishing best to score the 13th win of her career, the six-year-old mare surpassed $100,000 in stake earning with the victory.
STAR GAZING
Leap To Fame stole the limelight on Saturday night.
Grant Dixon’s star five-year-old resumed with a strong victory in the free-for-all when moving around to sit parked for the last 1100 metres and grinding out a 1.51.5 victory to maintain his winning streak, which now sits at 12 in succession.
For Real Life signalled his preparation is on track when the Trent Dawson-owned, trained and driven four-year-old led throughout to claim the 14th win of his career.
The 1.51.7 rate on a rain affected track was a career personal best for the classy entire, with his Constellations targets including The Rising Sun and The Hayden.
Eye Keep Smiling won in impressive fashion as the four-year-old mare was never out of second gear with her win.
Eye Keep Smiling could potentially be headed towards The Rising Sun as well as The Golden Girl.
At Menangle, Hi Manameisjeff signalled he will be a force in the Sunshine Sprint when winning impressively first-up from a spell.
Sent hard off the arm to lead, the seven-year-old, under the guidance of driver Jack Callaghan, was never in danger in the 1.51.3 victory.
A number of potential carnival hopefuls were left in his wake, with four-year-old Montalbano - for Rickie Alchin - grabbing second the best of the beaten runners.
Mat Rue might be tempted to test his three-year-old filly in the Oaks races as Always B Miki remained undefeated when scoring a 1.54.3 win.
THE MILESTONE
The winners may not be as prolific to this point of the season as they were in 2023, however Nathan Dawson is still the second driver in Australia to reach 100 winners for 2024.
Dawson was able to reach triple figures on Tuesday at 'The Creek' when partnering with Koda Da Moda for trainer Graham Dwyer.
Koda Da Moda has been a model of consistency since arriving in Queensland, missing the money just twice in 15 appearances, her record this season at 15: 5-3-5.
It was second time that Dawson has partnered with the four-year-old mare to maintain a perfect strike-rate, helping press her chances of a potential start in The Great Square.
Heading into Tuesday’s meeting on 99 wins for the term, Dawson had the reins on another Dwyer runner in the opening race, Aldebaranstilinski, who started favourite.
Finding the front soon after the start, the three-year-old was travelling well approaching the home turn but was unable to see it out, finishing third.
Unplaced in race two, Dawson did not have to sit on 99 for long, securing the perfect trip aboard the four-year-old Koda Da Moda, before angling off and sprinting home over the top to score.
Completing a double later in the day, Dawson led throughout on the Murray Thomas-trained Ellis Street, the three-year-old running a strong 2138 metre trip that was stamped with a sizzling 26.8 second closing split.
Competing at the Trot Rods finale night, Dawson quickly added to his tally as he set out after Pete McMullen in the state drivers’ premiership, picking up a treble of winners on the night.
By week’s end, Dawson had bridged the gap to five wins in the premiership race, moving to 105, with McMullen on 110.
It is the eighth successive season that Dawson has reached triple figures with his monster 413 win season the stand out in a career where he has also reached the 200 win milestone on four occasions.
THE WILDCARD
Sunday night at Redcliffe proved a good night for Clint Sneddon who took the trip to the Peninsula club for just the two drives on the card.
With both drives for Mat Wright, Sneddon was able to claim victories in both races, with the second leg of the winning double also bringing up 200 career victories.
Not only did Sneddon claim the winning double, but the wins were also the first victories this season for the reinsman.
From limited opportunities, with most of his driving done for Wright, Sneddon doubled his solitary win recorded in 2023, after one of his best seasons came in 2022 when steering home 11 winners.
The first of the Sunday night double came aboard seven-year-old mare Jaydes Terror, a mare that was purchased by Wright’s father Gavin from the Lola Weidemann stable.
Having her fourth run for the Wright barn, the mare faced a second line gate where Sneddon was able to position in the running line and kept chasing through as Lord Denzel moved up to them in the stretch.
Forcing his way into open space, Jaydes Terror was able to give enough to the wire to claim a half-neck victory.
Three Cord Riff was Sneddon’s only other drive for the night and in the last race the pair cruised home to score by close to 12 metres.
Making her first appearance for the Wright team, the mare was slowly away from inside the second line, however Sneddon was able to angle one-off within the opening 400 metres.
Easing three-wide with 700 metres to travel, the mare loomed strongly, hit the front with 300 metres to run and pulled clear for the big margin.
In making it a perfect night, Sneddon reached 200 in a career where the win of Its Three By Two in the Jim McNeil Trotting Championship at Group 3 status has been the reinsman's biggest victory.
THIS WEEK
The first week of winter will see six straight days of racing commence on Tuesday from 'The Creek' where 10 races are scheduled, the first four being trotting races.
A Friday night meeting will be the next meeting for Albion Park, before Saturday nights metropolitan fixture where the highlight will be the Flashing Red Discretionary Handicap, a key lead-up for the Redcliffe Cup.
Redcliffe will have two meetings this week, 10 races on Wednesday after the completion of the Trot Rods season last week.
Marburg will wrap the week up with a Sunday afternoon fixture.
