Catch up on the week's harness racing action in our weekly review, thanks to Darren Clayton.
CHLOE IN RARE AIR
Chloe Butler joined a unique club on Sunday afternoon, driving a career-high five winners on the card at the Warwick grass track meeting.
The five winners came for three different trainers, partnering with her Dad, Jack Butler, for a treble, which included the Warwick Gold Cup aboard Targaryen.
Chloe's first winner of the day was Fancy Like Barbie, who she trains and part-owns.
Having not started since August, the pair delivered with a 17-metre winning margin.
After 43 starts without success, the patience and perseverance were repaid, the grey mare breaking maiden ranks and securing the $14,000 QBRED first win bonus.
The other two winners for Chloe were Bling The Luck and Leithen Burn.
The win of Leithen Burn was an astonishing victory after his chances looked burned soon after the start.
Making an error moving up to the gate, Leithen Burn missed the start and was at least 50 metres behind when the mobile released the field, before tacking on at the rear and then moving up turning for home and proving too classy in a phenomenal victory.
Only four other female drivers in Queensland have ever recorded five wins at the same meeting.
Chloe joins Julie Weidemann, Natalie Rasmussen, Trista Dixon who have all achieved the feat once while Lola Weidemann has done it on six occasions.
LEADER PETE DOING HIS THING
The white-hot form of Pete McMullen continued on Saturday night.
The premiership-leading reinsman securing five wins for the night, the fourth time in his career that he has achieved the feat.
All five winners were for Pete’s wife, Chantal Turpin, giving her a five-win haul for the fourth time in her career, three of those coming this season.
A total of four of the five wins on Saturday night were in feature events, with the first winner for the stable coming in The Bill Dixon when Duke Of Scotland secured the perfect trip behind the speed and then finished hard and fast up the passing lane to score.
Albion Park track record holder at the mile, Blacksadance, landed the biggest win of his career with a dominant win in the Queensland Cup.
Annexing both three-year-old races to round out the feature race domination, Aardie B Miki produced a sizzling last 800 metres to make it a forlorn task for her opposition.
The 53.2 seconds is potentially the fastest last half ever recorded by a three-year-old filly at 'The Creek'.
With nine metropolitan winners from the past two meetings, McMullen has stretched his lead to 24 in the metro driver’s premiership.
For Turpin, the big night has allowed her lead in the metropolitan trainer’s premiership to stretch to eight over Grant Dixon.
Turpin's 59 winners leave her 12 short of her 71 recorded last season, with seven metro meetings remaining in the year.
GOLDEN TICKET VICTORIES
The road towards the 2024 Inter Dominion opened up for Blacksadance and Royal Dan on Saturday night when both received golden ticket qualification for the series.
Blacksadance took his career record to 28 wins when leading throughout to claim the Group 2 Queensland Cup and guarantee a position in the Inter series.
Jimartee finished third behind Blacksadance after being snookered in the run, making good ground once the gaps opened.
Amanda Turnbull, who is campaigning a small team in Queensland, was finishing hard aboard Donegal Luther.
The gelding is ranked 61 after the third round of rankings and grabbed fourth placing.
The Jason Grimson-trained Curly James was rattling home in the closing stages, running a slick last 800 metres to grab second.
The six-year-old is one of six pacers the master trainer has ranked in the top 12.
The busy yet successful week for Grimson continued when Royal Dan went within 0.2 seconds of the track record and demolish the opposition in the Trotters Spring Sprint.
With a third-round ranking of 19, Royal Dan confirmed his position in the series with the victory, giving Grimson a live chance of adding to his 2021 Pacing Championship.
TRIPLE TREAT FOR LAYNE
Layne Dwyer had a day out at Redcliffe for the non-TAB fixture last Tuesday, securing his first ever winning treble.
With five drives on the six-race card, Layne took driving honours for the day with the treble, also finishing with two seconds.
His first win came aboard the Ricky Hart-trained Mach Torque, the veteran mare surpassing $150,000 in stake earnings with her 28th career victory.
The second leg of the double came for Graham Dwyer, leaving hard off the gate aboard Mister Delwin, leading throughout and holding on to score by a head margin.
The 1.59.5 winning rate was a new personal best for the gelding who claimed his third career win for part-owner and breeder, Alan Boyd.
The final leg of the treble was secured when Layne drove an aggressive race aboard Rock Hammer, again for his father, Graham.
Circling the field early from the second line, Layne was content to sit outside the leader and turning for home was able to hold a winning margin.
Layne has partnered with the five-year-old in five victories.
THIS WEEK
The Redcliffe lighting project amplifies this week and as such, racing will take a four-week break to complete the project.
That will see the racing week take on a different look over the next month to accommodate the changes.
Monday, Wednesday night, Friday night and the Saturday metropolitan fixture will all be on the docket for Albion Park, while Marburg step up with the Tuesday and Thursday afternoon meetings.
The Queensland Summer Harness Season rolls on this Saturday night with the running of the inaugural Sunshine Stars Yearling Sales Classics.
